Karmatetra

The Hundred-Character Tablet

2011-12-02T22:35:00.001-07:00

I ran across this beautiful Taoist work from the Tang Dynasty and thought of posting it. It is amazing to see the parallels between Taoist and Buddhist philosophies. Would you like to become a Taoist immortal? Or perhaps you would like to take the Bodhisattva Vow and reincarnate in a Buddhist Pure Realm? Choices, choices.

To nourish the vital energy, keep watch in silence;
In order to subdue the mind, act with non-action.

Of movement and stillness, be aware of their origin;
There is no work to do, much less someone to seek.

The true and constant must respond to phenomena;
Responding to phenomena, you must be unconfused.

When unconfused, the nature will stabilize by itself;
When the nature stabilizes, energy returns by itself.

When energy returns, the elixir crystallizes by itself;
Within the pot, the trigrams of kǎn and lí are joined.

Yīn and yáng arise, alternating over and over again;
Every transformation comes like a clap of thunder.

White clouds form and come to assemble at the peak;
The sweet nectar sprinkles down Mount Sumeru.

Swallow for yourself this wine of immortality;
You wander so freely—who is able to know you?

Sit and listen to the tune played without strings;
Clearly understand the mechanism of creation.

It comes entirely from these twenty lines;
A true ladder going straight to Heaven.

You may find other beautiful translated texts of ancient China from both Taoist and Buddhist masters at: http://www.lapislazulitexts.com/translations.html

Got Milk

2011-11-04T21:29:00.001-06:00

As you may know from my previous blog entries I have the autoimmune disease celiac which is an intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat. I am very sensitive to ingesting gluten in any of its myriad forms so I am very careful of what I eat. You know the saying, "You are what you eat."

You can imagine that with this sensitivity to gluten and the fact that gluten is found in a wide variety of food stuffs, I do a lot of research into the chemical make-up of food. Wikipedia is a great resource for all sorts of information including the chemical make-up of food. Recently I discovered a correlation between gluten and casein. This could explain my problems with dairy foods that I figured out recently.

Check out this very interesting information that I compiled about a major component of milk, the protein casein:

Casein (from Latin caseus, "cheese") is the name for a family of related phosphoproteins. These proteins are commonly found in mammalian milk, making up 80% of the proteins in cow milk and between 60% and 65% of the proteins in human milk. Casein has a wide variety of uses, from being a major component of cheese, to use as a food additive, to a binder for safety matches. As a food source, casein supplies amino acids; carbohydrates; and two inorganic elements, calcium and phosphorus.

Casein Protein
http://chemistryismyworld.blogspot.com/2011/07/casein.html

Casein is relatively hydrophobic, making it poorly soluble in water. Special proteases are protein-breaking enzymes needed to break down the milk protein casein.

Uses of Casein

·         Casein paint is a fast-drying, water-soluble medium used by artists. Casein paint has been used since ancient Egyptian times as a form of tempera paint.
·         Casein-based glues were popular for woodworking, including for aircraft, as late as the de Havilland Mosquito.
·         Cheese is typically made when milk is acidified and then coagulated by the addition of rennet, a proteolytic enzyme typically obtained from the stomachs of calves. The solids are separated and pressed into final form.
·         Some of the earliest plastics were based on casein. In particular, galalith was well-known for use in buttons. Fiber can be made from extruded casein. Lanital, a fabric made from casein fiber products, was particularly popular in Italy during the 1930s.

Potential Negative Impacts of Casein on Health

Gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF) diet - Casein has a molecular structure quite similar to that of gluten. Thus, some gluten-free diets are combined with casein-free diets and referred to as a gluten-free, casein-free diet. Casein is often listed as sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate or milk protein. These are often found in energy bars, drinks, and packaged goods. NOTE: Since 1999, the website, www.GFCFDiet.com has been assisting parents & individuals with information about The "GFCF Diet".

A person may have a true allergy to dairy due to any of the numerous proteins or other substances in dairy. Lactose comes from the gut lining. Anything that disrupts the gut lining (inflammation, yeast, leaky gut, etc) may disrupt the production and release of lactase into the intestines. Then there is no enzyme to break down the lactose sugar properly...and you get an adverse reaction. NOTE: leaky gut results from celiac disease, so this may be another reason to avoid dairy if you have celiac.

Cancer - Colin Campbell's The China Study (2005), a book about one of the largest nutritional studies ever conducted, describes a direct correlation between casein administered to rats and the promotion of cancer cell growth when exposed to carcinogens.

Autism - Casein has been documented to break down to produce the peptide casomorphin, an opioid that appears to act primarily as a histamine releaser.[15] Some research indicates that this casomorphine aggravates the symptoms of autism.[16] A 2006 review of seven studies indicated that, although benefits were seen in all studies from the introduction of elimination diets (e.g., casein-free or gluten-free) in the treatment of autism spectrum disorders

Got Milk?

Mother Gaia's Gift

2011-11-03T21:33:00.002-06:00

By SoLeiNah

An Oasis of Satisfaction

Has appeared unexpectedly

Over the Crest of

What I thought was just another dune.

I feel bathed in Completion

Washed heart and soul

Isn't that funny

How such significance can

Sneak up on you?

From something that just seemed

And Adventure

A fun Exploration

Discovery and Delight

Turned (with no warning)

into something

Much Deeper

And I sink into

A Meditation of

Awe and Wonder

At the

Abundance and

Generosity of

Mother Gaia

I asked for my small cup to be filled

And an Ocean

Overflowed my cup

And rearranged

My shoreline

My world is somehow different now

There is not enough room in my mind for this

Only the Heart can hold such Mystery.

Lake Heron, Chama, New Mexico
By Thomas J. Greenbaum

Tenderly Mindful

2011-11-03T21:26:00.003-06:00

By SoLeiNah

M i N d F u l n E s

Oh, Anticipation!

My twittering friend

Flitting in and out of

This time zone

Scattering twigs

Dragging feathers

And leaving trails

Through the butter.

Come perch a while

And have a cup of tea with me.

And let us hold this moment

Tenderly.

Store Consciousness, Thirty Verses of Vasubandhu and Triacon

2011-10-28T11:58:00.001-06:00

This is a brief talk about Store Consciousness.

Vasubandhu was the founder of the Yogacara (Mind Only) school of Buddhism. It is Vasubandhu that introduced the concept of Store Consciousness. He was a brilliant logician and philosopher. He was the author of many profound teachings.

Vasubandhu (image from Wikipedia)

Vasubandhu was the author of a wonderful, short document which we refer to as The Thirty Verses of Vasubandhu (Tri sikavijñaptikarika ). A version of this document which is translated by the famous modern-day Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh can be found at: http://pvom.org/ This is the Plum Village Online Monastery website, which is founded by Thich Nhat Hanh.

I am quite thrilled about finding The Thirty Verses of Vasubandhu translated by Thich Nhat Hanh online. Turns out that there are very few Buddhist teachings that include the number thirty (30). I know this because I have searched extensively. I performed this search because of my fascination with the Triacon which has thirty (30) faces! Now I can make a Triacon that has each individual verse of the The Thirty Verses of Vasubandhu inscribed on each face of the Triacon.

Thirty Transcendent Virtues
by Thomas J. Greenbaum
Fused glass Triacontahedron

Also, check out the video: http://vimeo.com/29003349 This is the third Dharma talk offered by Thich Nhat Hanh in the Together We Are One Retreat at Deer Park Monastery on the North American Tour, given on Friday, September 9th, 2011. Thich Nhat Hanh talks about store consciousness and mind consciousness, and specifically how they relate to the Four Noble Truths: 1) suffering, 2) the making of suffering, 3) it is possible to transform suffering into happiness, 4) the path to happiness. It is a long video, but at about 33 minutes Thich Nhat Hanh talks specifically about Store Consciousness.

Here is additional information on Store Consciousness (from Wikipedia):

Eighth consciousness : "store consciousness" (Tibetan: kun-gzhi rnam-shes; Sanskrit: ālāyavijñāna); " The seed consciousness (bi^ja-vijn~a^na); "the consciousness which is the basis of the other seven. The seven prior consciousnesses are based and founded upon the eighth. It is the aggregate which administers and yields rebirth; this idea may in some respects be compared to the usage of the word "citta" in the agamas; see below. In the early texts the sankhara-khandha plays some of the roles ascribed to the store-house consciousness by later Yogacara thinkers.

Store-house consciousness accumulates all potential energy for the aggregate of the 'bodymind' (Sanskrit: namarupa), the mental (nama) and physical (rupa) manifestation of one's existence, and supplies the substance to all existences. It also receives impressions from all functions of the other consciousnesses and retains them as potential energy for their further manifestations and activities. Since it serves as the basis for the production of the other seven consciousnesses (called the "evolving" or "transforming" consciousnesses), it is also known as the base consciousness (mūla-vijñāna) or causal consciousness. Since it serves as
the container for all experiential impressions (termed metaphorically as bija or "seeds"), it is also called the seed consciousness or container consciousness.

It is my wish that the reader research this topic thoroughly and contemplate these philosophical concepts during meditation. My experience is that great benefits will result.

Who Shall Lead Us?

2011-10-06T21:21:00.001-06:00

We must be our own leader. To know one's true path through life is most important. We seek out the advise of wise men along the way, however, ultimately we are responsible for our own journey. We discover what is of value and what is to be discarded. We test our assumptions and validate them against experience and use intelligent reasoning to guide us. To be a warrior is to practice this constant vigilance. There is no external leader that can save us from our wrong views. We develop the right view and right attitude through our personal discipline. No wise man can tell us what is the right view and right attitude that we should adopt. No leader can convince us of it. This must come from within us. We forge and hone the sword of discriminating wisdom through our own effort. We wield this flaming sword and strike down our obstacles with our own might. Warrior lead thyself.

Manjushri

Ground of Reality

2011-07-30T23:42:00.004-06:00

When we are grounded and in touch with the Ground of Reality we are not afflicted by ego, we are present here and now, we have faith in an absolute truth which is beyond our mental concepts, and we feel comforted by a connection to all beings and all energy events in Universe. This magnificent connectivity is awe-inspiring yet it feels firm beneath our feet.

When we are in touch with the Ground of Reality we are fearless when confronting illness, hardship, suffering and the attack of evil forces. We understand that the laws of Universe (Dharma) and the law of karma (cause and effect) is our ever present refuge.

The phrase "Ground of Reality" is my own, but I equate it to the Mahayana Buddhist concept of Dharmadhātu.

From Wikipedia:

In Mahayana Buddhism, Dharmadhātu means "realm of phenomena", "realm of Truth" and of the noumenon, where Tathata (Reality "as-it-is"), emptiness, dependent co-arising and the unconditioned, uncreated, perfect and eternal Buddha are one.

Here is a passage from A DIRECT PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT by Jamgon Kongtrul the Great, being a commentary on the Mahayana teaching of THE SEVEN POINTS OF MIND TRAINING:

You don't need to flee adverse circumstances, since they perform the function of a spiritual friend. Through relying on adverse conditions, you can gather accumulations, remove obscurations, remember the holy Dharma, strengthen realization, and so on.
There is no need to be frightened of the magical displays of gods and demons, or the injury devils may inflict, since, because they assist you to increase your devotion and constructive activity, they are emanations of your guru or Buddha.
Since previous evil karma will affect you as you practice the holy Dharma, various physical diseases and illness will occur again and again. Not just when you're really ill, but even when you have only a slight affliction such as a headache, meditate joyfully as has been said again and again in the Sutras, that all your unskillful acts and obscurations accumulated over beginning-less time are being removed and are being swept away as if by a broom.
When you're suffering, there is no need to be depressed, since, when you look at the essence of sorrow, it arises as emptiness. however much suffering there is then enriches the treasury of Dharmadhātu. If all these occur, it is good; it is sufficient to carry them as aids for application. This last is an instruction not to abandon the four Dharmas for ever-present emotions, but to apply them.

This passage is very powerful and it ties in nicely with our previous discussion of Buddhist Medicine.

Buddhist Medicine

2011-07-28T22:02:00.003-06:00

I was asked, "What health system arises from Buddhism. Other than Qi Kung and maybe Tai Qi. Do you know?"

Good question, but there is no single answer. Just as the practice and philosophy of Buddhism itself evolved over time and was influenced by the culture of the people who adopted the practices, there is no single Buddhist medical practice.

For example, check out the excellent Wikipedia article on Traditional Tibetan medicine: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Tibetan_medicine

Regardless of the culture, Buddhist medical practice is based on the belief that all illness ultimately results from the three poisons of the mind: ignorance, attachment and aversion. These three poisons are the primary causes that keep sentient beings trapped in samsara.

The root poison is ignorance. From ignorance, attachment and aversion arise. Not knowing the real nature of phenomena, we are driven to generate desire for what we like and hatred for what we do not like and for what blocks our desires.

The Buddhist idea of ignorance is equivalent to the identification of a self as being separate from everything else. It consists of the belief that there is an "I" that is not part of anything else.

Therefore, the cure for all disease, the antidote to three poisons of the mind, and the ultimate cause for happiness is to dispel the belief in an independently existing self. This is referred to as anattā or anātman, the notion of "not-self." The Buddha taught that all things perceived by the senses (including the mental sense) are not really "I" or "mine," and for this reason one should not cling to them.

Furthermore, there are some very good Buddhist teachings regarding antidotes for what ails us. Personally, my favorite is the THE SEVEN POINTS OF MIND TRAINING or Lojong. The practice involves refining and purifying one's motivations and attitudes. There are 7 Points to Lojong, which consist of the 59 Slogans. The root text of the mind training practice are designed as a set of antidotes to undesired mental habits that cause suffering.

They Lojong methods expand one's viewpoint towards absolute bodhicitta (enlightened mind), such as "Find the consciousness you had before you were born." and "Treat everything you perceive as a dream.", and methods for relating to the world in a more constructive way with relative bodhicitta, such as "Be grateful to everyone." and "When everything goes wrong, treat disaster as a way to wake up."

You may find a listing of the 7 Points of Mind Training root text at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_training#Root_text

Trinity: Dividing the Universe into Three

2011-07-24T22:07:00.004-06:00

How do trinities work? This is a very deep question with answers on many levels. The levels exist in many domains of human experience and knowledge. It would take a lot of words to answer this properly.

The mind naturally divides the universe into three parts:

The subject or thought that our mind is considering in the moment, which is actually a set or collection of things.
Everything that we think is included inside this thought, or within this consideration set.
Everything that is excluded from our current thought, or outside the consideration set.

Because of this mental process our mind creates trinities. Every time we think about something we divide the universe into three parts. When we later recall our thinking process, we tend to generalize and think about the big picture which is the trinity of the situation. We think about the 'system' that our mind created when we thought about that particular consideration set. We look at the way we divided the universe with our thought. This is mostly not a conscious phenomena, but it is operational nonetheless.

One of the most powerful examples of how this innate dividing of the universe into three parts is Earth, Heaven and Hell. Primitive Human experience thought of their world as a flat plane that extended infinitely in all directions. Naturally this divides the universe into three parts: The Earth on which lives Humans and all creatures, Hell below and Heaven above.

Primitive Humans knew about the Earth on which they stood. They thought about their Earth intently and with great curiosity because their survival depended upon this knowledge. However, when they had time to think about the 'big' picture, they considered how the the universe must be divided into three distinct regions: Earth, Heaven and Hell. They imagined that beings must exist above and beneath the Earthly plane. They placed themselves in the 'big' picture and thought of a cycle of existence that must include the possibility of traveling to these other planes of existence, etc.

There are so many trinities that Humans throughout history have created that it is impossible to catalog them all. Searching the Internet for 'three' yields some interesting results. There is a very interesting website written by Michael Eck who has devoted his life to cataloging threes, see www.three.com and The Book of Threes.

From Wikipedia (and other sources) some interesting facts about three.

In Mathematics:

Three of the five regular polyhedra have triangular faces — the tetrahedron, the octahedron, and the icosahedron. Also, three of the five regular polyhedra have vertices where three faces meet — the tetrahedron, the hexahedron (cube), and the dodecahedron. Furthermore, only three different types of polygons comprise the faces of the five regular polyhedra — the triangle, the quadrilateral, and the pentagon.

In Nature:

A human ear has three semicircular canals.
Humans perceive white light as the mixture of the three additive primary hues: red, green, and blue.
Genetic information is encoded in DNA and RNA using a triplet codon system.
Atoms consist of three constituents: protons, neutrons, and electrons.
We perceive our universe to have three spatial dimensions.

In Religion:

The Christian Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
The Hindu Trimurti: Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer.
In Hinduism the three Gunas underlie action, in the Vedic system of knowledge.
The Hindu Tridevi.
The Three Jewels of Buddhism.
The Three Pure Ones of Taoism.
In Kaballah the trinity is God, Torah and Israel.
The three Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Jewish Bible, the Tanakh has 3 sections: Torah, Nevi'im, and Ketuvim.
There are three main divisions of Jews: Kohen, Levi, and Israel (Israelite).
According to the prophet Muhammad, there are three holy cities of Islam (to which pilgrimage should be made): Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem.
The Wiccan Rule of Three.
The Triple Goddess: Maiden, Mother, Crone; the three fates.
Gurdjieff's Three Centers and the Law of Three.
The three Doshas (weaknesses) and their antidotes are the basis of Ayurvedic medicine in India.
Hegel's dialectic of Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis creates three-ness from two-ness.
Saccidānanda, Satchidananda, or Sat-cit-ānanda is a compound of three Sanskrit words, Sat, Cit, and Ānanda, meaning truth, consciousness, and bliss respectively. The expression comes from Hinduism and is used in yoga and other schools of Indian philosophy to describe the nature of Brahman as experienced by a fully liberated yogi or saint.

It is no surprise that most of the major religions have a highly significant trinity in their teachings. What I find curious is that perhaps the most significant trinity of Human existence: Father - Mother - Child is not represented. The Christian Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Ghost comes close. Do you think that the Holy Ghost is a substitute for Mother? Some reports state that the Blessed Virgin Mary is venerated more than Jesus Christ as a Christian Deity.

An interesting web page The Christian Goddess talks about this issue. See http://www.northernway.org/goddess.html (My highlight below).

Many theologians and scholars believe the Holy Spirit written as, Pneuma in Greek every time it appears in the New Testament, is a feminine being. Note that Pneuma is a neuter word in Greek, but in Hebrew the word Ruah (Spirit) and in Aramaic the word Shekinah (Presence) are feminine words and imply a feminine divine presence. The Holy Spirit is possibly a Christian Goddess, not a mysterious invisible member of an all-male Trinity "club."

Plato also conceived of a triad consisting of Beauty, Symmetry and Truth. Bucky Fuller talks about this in Synergetics.

Fig. 542.02 Tetrahedral Analysis of Plato's Triad: The triadic concept of Beauty,Symmetry, and Truth inadvenently omitted the function of the observer. The tetrahedron is the unique symmetrical set of minimum interrelationships.

Talisman: Head - Heart - Ground

2011-07-10T22:31:00.000-06:00

I would like to share with you a talisman that I created (see photo below). It is made of three large glass beads, stainless steel wire, and leather. The talisman empowers the actions of the wearer by connecting our Head, Heart and the Ground of reality.

The top Head bead symbolizes intelligence, reasoning, logic, skill and knowledge.
The middle Heart bead symbolizes wisdom, openess, compassion and loving kindness.
The bottom Ground Of Reality bead symbolizes truth, faith, hope, realization of the union of life and death, the understanding of the interdependence of all things, and insight that all time (past and future) and all space exist in the here-and-now.

The connection between Head, Heart and Ground is what the power of the necklace is all about. Living our life with our Head and Heart working against each other is disastrous.

Many times our Head wins and the Heart loses out. We experience success, but we feel empty inside.
Sometimes the Heart wins out over the Head. This leads to impulsive acts that do not make sense in the big picture.
When we lose connection with the Ground Of Reality then we wander without direction and purpose.

However, when all 3 are connected and working together then we act with generosity, discipline, patience, energy, clarity, and wisdom. Our life has purpose, meaning and direction and we positively affect everyone around us.

The Activity Of Meditation

2011-07-09T23:42:00.009-06:00

I would like to explore the idea of stillness during meditation. I believe that many people who do not meditate mistakenly think that meditation is all about being very still. However, stillness is not what I achieve when I meditate. In my experience, meditation is filled with activity and creativity. Allow me to explain what happens when I meditate.
One of the first books that I read on the practice of meditation by a highly realized Tibetan Buddhist teacher is Meditation In Action, by Chogyam Trungpa. The title itself says a lot about what the book reveals. I mention it here because of our ongoing discussion of meditation, creativity, activity and stillness.

From the description of Meditation In Action:

"He explores the six activities associated with meditation in action—generosity, discipline, patience, energy, clarity, and wisdom—revealing that through simple, direct experience, one can attain real wisdom: the ability to see clearly into situations and deal with them skillfully, without the self-consciousness connected with ego."

From the book, opposite the title page:

"The design on the cover is based on one of the seals of the Trungpa Tulkus (reincarted Trungpa Lamas). It is the Sanskrit word "Evam", meaning "Thus" and is used at the beginning of all sutras "Thus I have heard". At another level "E" represents the passive, and "Vam" the active force in the Universe. At a still deeper level "E" represents Emptiness, and "Vam", the Clear Light."

The multidimensional symbol of "Evam" is another reason I thought it appropriate to include the book cover here. There is no doubt that the creation of the seal of the Trungpa Tulkus was developed from a deeply meditative state. This is an example of the act of creation of a graphic symbol artistically developed to convey a profound multidimensional meaning. Furthermore, this symbol represents both the unity of passive and active forces in the universe, and the unity of emptiness and clear light.

For me, there is no stillness, even while seated in deep meditation. The universe is constantly in motion. The meditative technique includes body awareness. All my senses are working while I witness my breath going in and out, my heart beating, the incense filling my nostrils, the sight of the flickering candle, environmental sounds, the stress of the muscles in my arms, legs, spine and neck, etc. In addition, I practice walking meditation, which in that case involves walking around in circles. Sometimes meditation involves mental analysis. The practice of a Puja requires chanting, hand gestures, visualization techniques and sometimes playing a musical instrument or manipulating a ritual object. So there is activity of all sorts during meditation.

Really the only difference for me between mundane activities and meditation, is that meditation removes ego and increases realization of the ultimate nature of reality.

What happens for me during Vipassana (insight) meditation is that as I sit and concentrate on my breath, I become more in the moment. Extraneous, random and distracting thoughts disappear. I become aware of the Universe as it really is. Sometimes inspirational thoughts emerge.

From Wikipedia:

Vipassanā (Pāli) or vipaśyanā (विपश्यना, Sanskrit) in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi (vipaśyin). Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of sitting meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha. It is a practice of self-transformation through self-observation and introspection to the extent that sitting with a steadfast mind becomes an active experience of change and impermanence. In English, vipassanā meditation is often referred to simply as "insight meditation".

This point is very important to me regarding insight meditation, awareness "becomes an active experience of change and impermanence." This is the awareness of the ultimate nature of reality; the union of Emptiness and Clear Light.

As is in keeping with the realization of the union of Emptiness and Clear Light, the experience of insight meditation is itself a creative act. The mind is not "turned off," it is simply in touch with the essence of reality.

Therefore, this is a prime opportunity to practice creative multidimensional thinking and to open myself to visualizations of geometric symbols representative of higher states of consciousness. The nature of how the Universe works is revealed during meditation, why not participate actively in the dance at that very moment? The better question is, "How can you sit still and not participate?"

Wish-Fulfilling Karmic Tetrahedron Jewel

2011-07-06T22:18:00.001-06:00

According to Wikipedia:

Cintamani is a wish-fulfilling jewel within both Hindu and Buddhist traditions, equivalent to the philosopher's stone in Western alchemy. In Buddhism it is held by the bodhisattvas, Avalokiteshvara and Ksitigarbha. It is also seen carried upon the back of the Lung ta (wind horse) which is depicted on Tibetan prayer flags. By reciting the Dharani of Cintamani, Buddhist tradition maintains that one attains the Wisdom of Buddha, able to understand the truth of the Buddha, and turn afflictions into Bodhi.

I have personally experienced the miracle of the wish-fulfilling gem on several occasions. I attribute these miracles as a result of my devotion to Avalokitesvara and many hours of meditation and the recitation of the mani.

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons ManiStone.jpg

The curious thing is that this wish fulfillment is never premeditated. These are spontaneous wishes that emerge from a source that is not from my linear and reasoned thinking mind. It is the junction of premonition and desire. It feels like a desire that arises spontaneously and in the same moment, the premonition that it will soon be fulfilled also occurs. The results come very soon after this desire/premonition. Sometimes within minutes, never more than a day later.

QUESTION: If you KNOW that some result will occur before it physically manifests, and at the same time that you KNOW this, you experience a desirous thought for this manifestation - did the desire cause the result, or did the knowledge (precognition) of the result cause the desire?

A close Buddhist friend of mine used to say that I "manifested" stuff. This is not a good description because it says that this is something that I cause. It doesn't feel like I cause it. Again, from Wikipedia the definition of causality:

Causality is the relationship between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first.

However, if the cause and the effect happen simultaneously, then causality is in some way negated. In my personal experience, the effect does not happen simultaneously, but the realization that the effect WILL happen occurs simultaneously. This then is a matter of precognition and precognition is of course counter to the existing laws of science ...

Perhaps precognition is explained by R. Buckminster Fuller's concept of the Action-Reaction-Resultant Tetrahedron. From Bucky Fuller's Synergetics:

511.10 The open-ended tripartite spiral can be considered as one energy event consisting of an action, reaction, and resultant.Two such tripartite-vectored "spirals," one negative and one positive, combine to form the tetrahedron. See the diagram.

Using the concept of the Action-Reaction-Resultant Tetrahedron, then the positive spiral is the NORMAL time-space desire-driven KARMIC linear event. The negative spiral is the ANTI-NORMAL time-space precognitive INSTANT-KARMIC receptive event.

Diagram 511.10
Copyright © 1997 Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller

This wish-fulfilling karmic tetrahedron jewel manifests across time-space. It is self-fulfilling because it is comprised of the perfect union of male and female energies. The positive male open-ended tripartite spiral perfectly mates with the negative female open-ended tripartite spiral. Desire and creation manifest as a single closed system.

This model of the It defies causality and the linear model of time. It is a real life demonstration that time does NOT exist in the linear manner that we experience in mundane reality.

The Anti-Nutrients: Grains and Legumes

2011-07-06T21:36:00.004-06:00

Just finished reading Dr. Komadina's book Born To Be Healthy and Thin and thought it to be quirky but enlightening in several areas regarding diet and nutrition. His approach to hormones, vitamins and diet are unique and refreshing. His health philosophy is straightforward and bold. His diet recommendations are in many ways similar to the Paleolithic Diet.

One thing that really caught my attention because of I have Celiac disease is that he says eating grains and legumes is the cause of many of our diseases. This is because our DNA is not designed to process grains, and today's genetically engineered grains are even less edible. Eating grains and legumes damage our gut and allow toxins to enter our blood also triggering autoimmune responses.

According to Wikipedia:

Compared to Paleolithic food groups, cereal grains and legumes contain high amounts of antinutrients, including alkylresorcinols, alpha-amylase inhibitors, protease inhibitors, lectins and phytates, substances known to interfere with the body's absorption of many key nutrients. Molecular-mimicking proteins, which are basically made up of strings of amino acids that closely resemble those of another totally different protein, are also found in grains and legumes, as well as milk and dairy products. Advocates of the Paleolithic diet have argued that these components of agrarian diets promote vitamin and mineral deficiencies and may explain the development of the "diseases of civilization" as well as a number of autoimmune-related diseases.

Never heard about lectins before now. I am just now starting my research but from what I have read so far, this issue is of grave concern to all of us. There is a great web page THE LECTIN STORY that explains in detail how lectins cause damage and disease. I encourage the reader of this blog to do their own research.

My focus now is on getting healthy and healing my body after discovering I have Celiac disease. Gluten is poison to me and I am beginning to think that other grains are not good for me either. So how do we eliminate lectins from our diet?

There is a very good article on the web Soaking Grains Exploration: Lectins Present Yet Another Problem which talks about sprouting grains a way to destroy toxic lectins. The article says:

Cooking doesn't really affect most lectins, but two traditional food preparation methods destroy or nearly completely diminish lectin content:

Sprouting not only increases the overall nutrition of seeds, but it completely destroys the lectin. You can sprout both grains and legumes.
Soaking beans in water and tossing the soak water also dramatically reduces lectin content.

On the Creation of Art

2011-06-28T23:05:00.007-06:00

In 1979 while going to the University of Florida I decided to switch my major from Physics to Architecture. The reason for this switch was to better align my studies with my creative and artistic nature. The study of Physics did not present the opportunities that I desired to express myself fully. However, the study of Architecture held the promise of one day enabling me to apply concepts of structure and design to the creation of beautiful, functional artifacts that would benefit others.

While studying Architecture I also became very interested in meditation. My favorite author of books on meditation was Lama Anagarika Govinda. His writings opened to me a new way to contemplate symbolic and creative thinking. He became for me a great Mentor alongside my other great Mentor, R. Buckminster Fuller.

During the development of an Architecture project for school I decided to apply the wisdom of both of my great Mentors to solve the design problem given to me by my Architectural Design Professor. The design problem was to create a band shell for musical performances in an outdoor park setting. My inspiration was based on a natural shell geometry that "grew" from a progression of overlapping tetrahedrons of increasing size.

I wish that I still had the model that I built. However, I do still have a small plaque that I created that speaks of my design intent. On the left side of the plaque is my obviously Bucky Fuller inspired design intent.

"Superimposure of the 8 unfolded Tetrahedron pairs which combine in lefthand - righthand - reflected, macro-expanded, micro-contracted, equiangular - spiraling - layers, to form the ever-growing shell integrity."

On the right side of the plaque is a quote by Lama Govinda that still inspires me to this day. I have it displayed on my bookcase so that I may refer to it often.

"ART … while using the forms of the external world does not try to imitate nature, but to reveal a higher reality by omitting all accidentals, thus raising the visible form to the value of a symbol, expressing a direct experience of life."

This is my life's goal to create ART in the manner described by Lama Govinda while applying the Synergetic Geometric forms of Bucky Fuller.

Inspirational plaque by Thomas J. Greenbaum

After graduating from Architecture school in 1981 I came across a wonderful book Creative Meditation and Multi-Dimensional Consciousness by Lama Anagarika Govinda. This book became my "Bible" for some time as I immersed myself into a new metaphor of meditation and creative thought. I have the well-worn book still on my shelf.

Creative Meditation and Multi-Dimensional Consciousness by Lama Anagarika Govinda

The following quote from this book (page 134) describes the relationship between meditation, visualization and multi-dimensional symbols. It is the realm where all three intersect that for me becomes the space of creativity and artistic expression.

"The Buddha himself said that his teaching is deep, profound (gambhira), beyond the realm of speculation and world-thinking (avitarka, avicara), comprehensible only to the wise. The only way , however, to free ourselves from the tyranny of words and concepts is the imaginative method of visualization, or the replacement of our one-track logic by the multidimensional symbol. Even a strict science such as mathematics has developed a language of multidimensional symbols and visual formulations in which the position of each sign or symbol in the general context of a formula determines the meaning and value of each particular sign. The meditative experience of Buddhism developed a similarly intricate system of visual symbols based on archetypal forms or images which evolved from the depth of human consciousness and proved their efficacy through millenia of meditative practice."

Therefore, the creation of ART which stems from deeply inspired forms can arise from within the practice of meditation. Meditation is not the opposite of creation. Meditation is the ground from which creation manifests.

Synergetics Geometry Studio

2011-05-14T21:57:00.002-06:00

MISSION STATEMENT
A STUDIO where positive IN-tention and pure, unstained action of body, speech and mind, occurs spontaneously IN the moment, aligning effortlessly with the natural rhythmic cycling of the IN-wardly spiraling, self-IN-terfering, associative material energies, and the OUT-wardly spiraling, radially expanding, dis-associative, light energies, provided by Earth, Sun, Moon, planets, stars and galaxies, IN harmony with the most subtle vibrations of cosmic consciousness, universal law, truth, beauty, symmetry and awareness of the IN-terconnectedness of self and all other beings.

A STUDIO where such positively intended vectors of body, speech and mind, forming a minimum, triangular, right-hand spiral unite with a minimum, triangular left-hand spiral comprised of the vectors of truth, beauty and symmetry to form a Synergetic abstract tetrahedral minimum system, which being the IN-tuitive, IN-tellectual heart of the STUDIO, divides the entire universe at this locus into three consideration sets:

The micro-cosmic volume of un-manifest no-thing-ness and all beings taking refuge IN-side the STUDIO
An integrated, holistic, creative-living system comprised of structural, architectural, mechanical and elemental valving sub-systems of the STUDIO itself
The macro-cosmic other-ness of all energies and beings, both positive and negative, OUT-side the STUDIO.

A STUDIO where the micro-cosmic volume of un-manifest no-thing-ness IN-side the STUDIO resonates with the positively IN-tended right-hand spiraling vectors of body, speech and mind of the beings IN-habiting the STUDIO, resulting in un-IN-hibited and IN-spired re-structuring of material and energetic natural resources with-IN the STUDIO, thus re-forming the resources IN-to ART-SCIENCE-TECHNOLOGY physical artifacts that re-flect the left-hand spiraling vectors of truth, beauty and symmetry, which ultimately re-IN-forces the abstract tetrahedral minimum system at the heart of the STUDIO.

A STUDIO where such positively IN-tended right-hand spiraling vectors of body, speech and mind of the beings STUDIO IN-habitants spontaneously, and safely IN-teract with material and energetic natural resources with-IN the STUDIO to creatively form spiral-orbital re-structurings of these resources, thereby un-knotting the self-IN-terfering, associative physical structures of the material resources through the controlled application of sacred spiral radiating, dis-associative energies, ultimately forming artifacts that re-flect truth, beauty and symmetry which may then be propagated and distributed OUT-side the STUDIO to benefit unlimited numbers of beings.

A STUDIO where the creative activities of STUDIO IN-habitants are supported by the structural, architectural, mechanical and elemental valving sub-systems of the STUDIO, which itself is an IN-spired artifact (tool for creative living), IN harmony with IN-habitants' physical and meta-physical requirements, thereby forming a REFUGE that both protects and nurtures while simultaneously enabling the safe and un-IN-hibited manipulation of material and energetic resources for the purpose of positively IN-tended artifact development.

A STUDIO where the macro-cosmic other-ness of all energies and beings, both positive and negative, OUT-side the STUDIO are brought IN-to the compassionate awareness and creative consideration of STUDIO IN-habitants, and because the STUDIO IN-habitants' physical and meta-physical positive growth requirements are met elegantly and efficiently IN harmony with the planet's regenerative systems, the STUDIO IN-habitants spontaneously, with wisdom, IN-telligence and skillful means, safely leverage the un-bounded, IN-spiraling associative and OUT-spiralling dis-associative cosmic energies, carefully applied to physical and energetic resources, empowered by the structural, architectural, mechanical and elemental valving sub-systems of the STUDIO, to form ART-SCIENCE-TECHNOLOGY physical artifacts to be distributed to beings OUT-side the STUDIO, in a manner which reflects the axioms of truth, beauty and symmetry at the abstract of heart of the STUDIO, forming a sacred bond of realized IN-terconnectedness with those beings receiving the artifacts OUT-side the STUDIO, ultimately expanding the STUDIO's positive vibrations at the most subtle level of cosmic consciousness, following planetary lines of energy, causing sympathetic vibrational modes in all planetary GREAT CIRCLE wave lines, thereby healing planetary dis-harmony, resulting in planet-wide peace and happiness.

30 Transcendent Virtues
by Tom Greenbaum

Transforming Economics with Positive Thinking

2011-03-28T21:34:00.002-06:00

Malthus was wrong. The planet's economic systems based on Malthusian principles of scarcity are a lie and a deception. This is one of the root causes behind the world's woes. If humanity learned the power of positive thinking we can eliminate war, famine, disease, oppression and the disparity between the wealthy ruling class and the poor working class.

Thomas Robert Malthus thought that the dangers of population growth would preclude endless progress towards a utopian society: "The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man".

Current world leaders teach that the, "First rule of economics is that there are limited resources and there are never enough goods or money to satisfy everyone." This is what Malthus declared at a time when there was barely a billion people on the planet. Now there are over 6 billion people with a majority living with access to resources that Malthus could not have imagined.

How could Malthus be so wrong? The simple truth is that he did not understand the very basic principle of innovation and Human ingenuity. Human's ability to discover the generalized operating principles of Universe and apply them in the creation of artifacts that do ever MORE with ever LESS physical resources is what Malthus did not understand and what the world political, financial and oil-wealth based tyrannies continue to perpetuate as the greatest deception Humanity has had to overcome.

Utopia or Oblivion: the Prospects for Humanity
By R. Buckminster Fuller

Why is Humanity taught to believe in this lie? It is because Humans react with fear and aggression when they think that there is not enough resources for everyone. Humans driven by fear of scarcity are easily controlled and organized into competing camps.
Nations, banks and oil companies who control access to the world's "limited" physical resources need to perpetuate the lie in order to secure their power base.
However, the real resource is and has always been intellectual attainment. Sometimes referred to as "mind over matter" or BRAIN POWER it is humans' ability to ever more with ever less physical resources, that is the ultimate power base.

Students have come to America for two centuries in order to gain the best education in the world. In the past, 90 percent have stayed and added to the intellectual resources of America, founded great innovative companies, and added to the power and success of our nation.

For example, consider the following entrepenuers who helped to build Silicon Valley:

Andrew Grove, former Chairman and CEO Intel Corporation, born in Budapest, Hungary, graduated University of California, Berkeley.
Pierre Omidyar, founder and Chairman, eBay, born in Paris, France to Iranian immigrant parents, graduated from Tufts University, net worth $5.5 Billion.
Salar Kamangar, CEO of YouTube, created the company's first business plan, born in Tehran, Iran, graduated from Stanford University.
Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin, Google founder, born in Moscow, graduated from Stanford University, net worth $15 Billion.
Jerry Yang, Yahoo co-founder, born in Taiwan, graduated from Stanford University, net worth $1.15 Billion.

The 1999 report Silicon Valley's New Immigrant Entrepreneurs "finds that immigrants account for one-third of the scientific and engineering workforce in Silicon Valley and that Indian or Chinese Chief Executive Officers are running one-fourth of all of the high-technology firms in the region."

These entrepeneurs created vast information enterprises from nothing. These companies now influence the entire world. This is the proof that BRAIN POWER is limitless and that the power of the earth to provide subsistence for humanity is boundless.

Sacred Geometry, Metatron’s Cube and Merkabah Connections

2011-03-27T22:35:00.003-06:00

Sometimes isolation and solitude catalyze the greatest feelings of connection. This is not a paradox. It is about simplicity, being able to listen through the static, filtering meaning from the noise. This is why a cave, a bowl or the center of a sphere is an excellent location for meditation and for accumulating jnana. These forms present a uniform interior to our minds allowing our body/mind to relax. These spaces provide a refuge that protects us from negative energies and shield us from distractions. We are open to the entire universe, yet we do not feel threatened. In fact, we feel at home and protected.

Triacon Plan View - An Alternate View of Metatron's Cube
Copyright © Thomas J. Greenbaum

This is also what sacred geometry provides. We can visualize ourselves in the center of the mandala (the Chariot, the Merkabah) and feel at home amongst the lines, arcs, triangles, circles, tetrahedrons and spheres. It may not take an overt mental act or visualization method to do this. If the geometry reflects truth, beauty and symmetry it is easily and naturally accomplished. Truth, of course, is the most difficult aspect to achieve.

"Know the self to be sitting in a Chariot, the body to be the Chariot, the intellect (buddhi) the charioteer, and the mind the reins." --The Upanishads

Having established a locus for our mind within the sacred space/geometry, connections occur without the interference of overt metaphors or symbols. We can listen/feel the most subtle vibrations, like a spider in the center of its web. Once centered in the grid/web looking inside and looking outside we become aware of a unity of form and function. Consciousness merges with the sacred geometry and the fractal nature of awareness arises. Micro/macro views are self-similar resulting in harmony, balance and equilibrium. Connections arise spontaneously between all nodes on the grid; no single node is dominant, all nodes vibrate together.

Engraved illustration of the "chariot vision" of the Biblical book of Ezekiel, chapter 1, after an earlier illustration by Matthaeus (Matthäus) Merian (1593-1650)

In contrast, our mundane awareness is not easily balanced. Each connection we experience competes for our attention/energy. Each node fights for dominance over the others. Life is a discordant cacophony of overt signs, symbols, messages and mythologies with contradictory meanings. Consciousness cannot settle into any locus. Awareness does not feel centered and does not realize the self-similar fractal nature of phenomena. Looking inside yields one view, while looking outside we something totally different; alien and threatening. Although the view outside is disturbing we cannot take our attention from it. After a while we are afraid to look inside.

The opportunity/potential of the Lotus Bowl, Metatron's Cube, or any sacred geometry is that it can become the Chariot of God, the Merkabah. These forms may become vehicles for individual consciousness to connect with our Buddha nature. They transport our mundane consciousness to realms of enlightened awareness - the Pure Realms. During these states of expanded consciousness we open ourselves fully to being connected to all possibilities. We arrive to sit on our Lotus Throne, cup one hand to our ear and listen to the vibrations of the cosmos, the music of the spheres, to the songs of all beings - while in the other hand we gather precious Amrita, the elixir that will make us immortal.

Milarepa - Great Yogi and Kagyu Saint

The Power of Myth

2011-02-18T09:11:00.003-07:00

The full meaning of the term "myth" is something you should learn. Understanding the role of myth in your life is perhaps the most powerful tool you can attain. It is a tool that you can pragmatically apply to help you live your life with joy.

I consider Joseph Campbell one of the wisest scholars of the 20th century. In some ways he is wiser than Bucky Fuller. Campbell's book The Power of Myth changed my life. The Power of Myth is a book and six part television documentary (available on DVD) originally broadcast on PBS in 1988. The documentary comprises six one-hour conversations between mythologist Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers and includes selections from Moyers' interview with Star Wars creator George Lucas.

Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American mythologist, writer and lecturer, best known for his work in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work is vast, covering many aspects of the human experience. His philosophy is often summarized by his phrase: "Follow your bliss."

George Lucas was the first Hollywood filmmaker to credit Campbell's influence. Lucas stated following the release of the first Star Wars film in 1977 that its story was shaped, in part, by ideas described in The Hero with a Thousand Faces and other works of Campbell's.

Check out the YouTube video: The Mythology Of Star Wars which is a Bill Moyers interview of George Lucas and his thoughts of God and "The Force." Lucas says Mythology creates a context for the unknown. The video includes a great clip of when Luke Skywalker first meets Yoda and receives his first lesson about "The Force." Lucas says that when Star Wars first came out, almost every single religion took Star Wars and used it as an example of their religion and related the Star Wars mythology to the Bible, the Quaran and the Torah. He goes on to say if the Star Wars mythology is a tool to make old stories be new and relate to younger people - that's what the whole point was.

When Campbell published his book Historical Atlas of World Mythology, a reporter interviewed Campbell and confronted him with some tough questions:

Reporter: "The word 'myth,' means 'a lie.' Myth is a lie."

Campbell: "No, myth is not a lie. A whole mythology is an organization of symbolic images and narratives, metaphorical of the possibilities of human experience and the fulfillment of a given culture at a given time."

Campbell: "That which human beings have in common is revealed in myths. Myths are the stories of our search through the ages for truth, for meaning, for significance. Myths are clues to the spiritual potentialities of the human life.

Joseph Campbell defined myths as having four basic functions:

the Mystical Function--experiencing the awe of the universe

the Cosmological Function--explaining the shape of the universe

the Sociological Function--supporting and validating a certain social order

the Pedagogical Function--how to live a human lifetime under any circumstances

See more in an interview with Campbell regarding The Function of Myth In the Individual Life.

Some inspirational quotes by Joseph Campbell:

Follow your bliss.

If you do follow your bliss,

you put yourself on a kind of track

that has been there all the while waiting for you,

and the life you ought to be living

is the one you are living.

When you can see that,

you begin to meet people

who are in the field of your bliss,

and they open the doors to you.

I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid,

and doors will open

where you didn't know they were going to be.

If you follow your bliss,

doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else.

☼

People say that what we're seeking is a meaning for life.

I don't think that's what we're really seeking.

I think that what we're seeking is an experience of being alive,

so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.

☼

Find a place (inside) where there's joy,

and the joy will burn out the pain.

☼

The goal of life

is to make your heartbeat

match the beat of the universe,

to match your nature with Nature.

Untie the Knots of False Knowledge to Release the Infinite Energy of the Void

2011-01-19T12:53:00.005-07:00

In this post I will talk about how to untie knots of false knowledge and the benefits that this will bring us.

An explosion is the sudden release of energy. This is similar to Satori, or sudden Enlightenment. Explosives development consists of discovering how to untie a myriad of complex knots of ever decreasing size with ever increasing rapidity. Tie a knot to bind energy. Untie a knot to release energy.

Discover a molecular (chemical) knot that can be unravelled in a flash and you have a powerful explosive. Invent a way to untie the knot that binds the nucleus of atoms in a split second and an explosion millions of times greater results. In this post I explore how to untie the knot that forms the very fabric of energy-mass to in order to free the binds of false knowledge and gain Enlightenment.

It is interesting to note that the "Auspicious Knot" is one of the eight traditional symbols of Buddhism. Also called Shrivatsa, or the endless knot. It represents the Buddha's heart, the essence of which is bodhicitta, ("awakened mind" or, universal compassion).

Auspicious Knot

From Buckminster Fuller's Synergetics (section 505 Pattern), Bucky uses the knot metaphor to help us understand how atoms are held together:

505.21 Each of the chemical elements is a uniquely complex pattern of energy event interrelatednesses which interact inter-interferingly to continually relocalize the involved quantity of energy. These self-interference patterns of atomic element components are in many ways similar to the family of knots that are tied with rope by sailors to produce various local behaviors, all of which, however, result in further contraction of the knot as the two ends of the rope immediately outside the knot are pulled away from one another by forces external to the knot^__and thus all the attractive forces of Universe operating upon the atoms may result precessionally in keeping the atomic knots pulled together. (See Sec.506.14.)

Synergetics Fig. 505.41 Involution and Evolution
Copyright © 1997 Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller

In Synergetics section 506 Knot, Bucky further explains how the energy-mass pattern knot is self-tightening, or self-interfering. Bucky explains that the Yin-Yang diagram is actually the minimum tetrahedron knot.

506.14 Pulling on the two ends of the knotted rope causes the knot to contract. This is a form of interference wave where the wave comes back on itself, and as a consequence of any tension in it, the knot gets tighter. This is one of the ways in which the energy-mass patterns begin to tighten up. It is self-tightening. This is the essence of "matter" as a consequence of two circles of 720 degrees tending to annihilate or lose one's self. Tetrahedron creates an insideness. Knot attempts to annihilate it. The knot is a tetrahedron or a complex of tetrahedra. Yin-Yang is a picture of a minimum tetrahedron knot interference tying. (See Sec. 505.21.)

In the Shurangama Sutra, Volume 5, Part One the Buddha uses the knot metaphor. He provides instruction to his disciple Ananda on how to gain Enlightenment by removing the knots of the six sense-organs which are the root cause of defiling appearance (illusory existence). Following are some selected excerpts from the Sutra. The reader is highly encouraged to read the entire Sutra to gain immeasurable insight on how to obtain liberation.

Ananda, consider someone who wants to untie a knot. If he can't see where the knot is, how can he untie it? But I have never heard of anyone unbinding empty space. Why not? Because emptiness has no form of appearance; and so there are no knots to untie. But now your visible eyes, ears, nose, and tongue, as well as your body and mind are like six thieving matchmakers who plunder the jewels of your own household. And, thus, from beginningless time, because beings and the temporal and spatial world, have been bound up together, beings are unable to transcend the material world.

Therefore, Ananda, you can select whichever one of the six sense-organs you wish. If the knots of the sense-organs are removed, then the defiling appearance disappear of themselves. All falseness ceases to be.

Ananda, consider someone who wants to untie a knot. If he can't see where the knot is, how can he untie it? But I have never heard of anyone unbinding empty space. Why not? Because emptiness has no form of appearance; and so there are no knots to untie. But now your visible eyes, ears, nose, and tongue, as well as your body and mind are like six thieving matchmakers who plunder the jewels of your own household. And, thus, from beginningless time, because beings and the temporal and spatial world, have been bound up together, beings are unable to transcend the material world.

Ananda said to the Buddha, "World Honored One, although the Tathagata has explained this second absolute, as I now regard someone who wants to untie a knot, if he cannot find its center, he will never get the knot undone. World Honored One, I and all other Hearers in the great assembly who are not beyond study are the same way. From time without beginning we have been accompanied in birth and death by ignorance. We have obtained these good roots of erudition and are said to have left the home life, yet in fact we act like someone with recurrent malaria. I only hope, Greatly Compassionate One, that you will take pity on us who are sinking and drowning. What are the knots in our body and mind and how do we untie them? Your explanation will also enable future beings who are in suffering and difficulty to avoid the cycle of rebirth and keep them from falling into the three realms of existence."

Good indeed, Ananda! You wish to recognize your innate ignorance that causes you to turn on the wheel. The origin of the knot of birth and death is simply your six sense-organs and nothing else. You also want to understand unsurpassed Bodhi, so that you can quickly realize bliss, liberation, tranquility, and wonderful permanence. It, too, is your six sense-organs and nothing else.

Here is a little poem I wrote to summarize this teaching:

Cut the Root of the Tree of False Knowledge

By Karma Lodro Gyaltsen

Infinite energy of the Void tied in knots by limited perception,

False knowledge derived from finite, bounded definitions.

We may argue and dispute the facts, I pull

At the definition from one end, you pull

From the other end, however, the knot

Of conceptuality grows ever tighter.

Apply wisdom to untie the knots
Cut the root of the false tree
of knowledge.

Infinite energy
Liberated,

Freedom
Explodes

From within.

Emotion Versus Intuition

2011-01-17T22:05:00.002-07:00

In my previous post I talk about how the 120 LCD Spherical Triangle diagram of Synergetics was intuitively derived by the mind of the great architect Buckminster Fuller through a study of the geometric relationships of icosahedron spin properties. I also examine how the Becker-Hagens Grid puts a pseudoscientific "spin" on these very same diagrams. I said that the 120 LCD Spherical Triangle model of Synergetics was intuitively derived, but the Becker-Hagens UVG 120 sphere was emotionally derived.

In this post I would like to elaborate on the difference between "emotionally derived" and "intuitively derived." Let us begin by reviewing the Synergetics definition of intuition in section 500.00 Conceptuality:

529.32 Intuition derives from the approximate instantaneity of intellect, which is much faster than any physical phenomenon like the brain lags. Intuition is the absolute- velocity insistence of the intellect upon the laggingly reflexed brain to call its attention to significance of various special-case, brain-registered, experience relationships. Intuition is intellect coming instantly in at highest speed into dominance over lower-speed, lagging brain reflexing.

The benefit of LEARNING is that once a teaching becomes a brain reflex, this allows an entirely new level of INTUITION to occur instantly. The rational route is through the lower-speed travel across the rough terrain of the thinking process. After this terrain is crossed repeatedly, bridges are constructed. Intuition crosses the bridge over the rough terrain to travel with high-speed connectivity between previous landmarks of our mapped experience. By broadening our consideration set across a wide range of special case experiences, we enable the absolute-velocity intellect to find patterns of connectivity within the map. Intuition will use the map to empower intellect to discover new generalized principles of Universe.

Triacon 3D Visualization
Copyright by Thomas J. Greenbaum

Rotation and spin is how the Universe creates seemingly complex systems from very simple relationships. I created an online Triacon program using the Processing language that uses spin relationships to create a 3D rhombic triacontahedron on screen. The programming code actually takes a single golden rhombus and spins it and rotates it 30 times to create the entire model. See: http://openprocessing.org/visuals/?visualID=14609

Create experience maps based only on rational, intellectually-derived truthful relationships, then all your INTUITIONS will be inspired revelations of Universal Law.

Spin and the 120 LCD Spherical Triangle of Synergetics

2011-01-14T21:55:00.007-07:00

In my previous post "Planetary Energetic Grid Theory" I talk about how various New Age philosophers have used the mathematically proven geometries from Buckminster Fuller's Synergetics to further their own pseudoscientific theories. I would like to delve a little deeper into this issue and point out the difference between New Age pseudoscience and real science.

I encourage the reader to review Synergetics section 901.00 Basic Disequilibrium LCD Triangle for an explanation of the relevance of the 120 LCD spherical triangle geometry to the modelability of nature's structures. Buckminster Fuller discovered these geometries as being generalized operational principles of Universe evident in natural structures. These structures appear on all scales from the micro-cosmic icosahedral protein capsid of a virus to the macro-cosmic spiral arm of a galaxy.

901.02 The Basic Disequilibrium 120 LCD Spherical Triangle of synergetics is derived from the 15-great-circle, symmetric, three-way grid of the spherical icosahedron. It is the lowest common denominator of a sphere's surface, being precisely 1/120th of that surface as described by the icosahedron's 15 great circles. The trigonometric data for the Basic Disequilibrium LCD Triangle includes the data for the entire sphere and is the basis of all geodesic dome calculations. (See Sec.612.00.)

See the website of R.W. Gray Projects on Great Circle and LCD Triangle Info for a very complete explanation of Bucky's concept of how the great circles are defined by spinning the polyhedron about an axis. He explains in great detail the derivation of the LCD Spherical Triangles and provides corrected tables of angles.

Image with Becker-Hagens copyright but contains diagrams from Synergetics

Note how the completely rational and mathematically derived 120 LCD Spherical Triangle model of Synergetics is compared in stark contrast to the plagiarized and emotionally derived UVG 120 Sphere by Becker-Hagens. It is interesting to see how Becker-Hagens copied exactly the drawings from Bucky straight out of Synergetics and added their own copyright to them. See "Illustration 17 - Planetary Grid Projection" compare with "Fig. 986.405 Respective Subdivision of Rhombic Dodecahedron (A) and Rhombic Triacontahedron"

We all realize that the images of geometric forms discovered by Bucky's brilliant and extraordinarily disciplined mind are potent in their beauty and resonate on many levels of the psyche due to their intuitive connection to the coordinate system of Universe. The lesson here is that we need to be careful that these images do not become symbols and signs of a new religion which removes the images from their rightful place at the heart of the Design Science Revolution.

Geometry is a true science that can lead humanity to innovations which use less resources to accomplish more benefit for Humanity. The magic and mystery resides in the ability of the Human mind to derive the generalized operating principles of Universe from experience and observation. However, the geometric images in of themselves do not possess magical properties to divine the source of etheric energies beyond that of inspiring within the seer the motivation to use their own internal creative energies for the betterment of the planet.

Planetary Energetic Grid Theory

2011-01-12T22:13:00.003-07:00

The concept of etheric energy lines or "ley lines" encircling the Earth is attributed to New Age beliefs. The Wikipedia article on ley lines says:

The believers in ley lines think that the lines and their intersection points resonate a special psychic or mystical energy. Ascribing such characteristics to ley lines has led to the term being classified as pseudoscience.

I bring up this idea of ley lines because I find it fascinating that there are websites devoted to a "serious" examination of various Planetary Energetic Grid Theories and almost all of them have used the spherical geometric constructions invented by Buckminster Fuller as the basis of their grids. Many websites have used Bucky's images without attribution which is not ethical. However, some New Age writers do give Bucky credit for their application of a spherical coordinate system to their grid system.

For example, search the web for "Becker-Hagens Grid" and you will find that there are many websites which mention this New Age theory. A website by Bethe Hagens writes extensively on this theory. She says on the website:

"This is the same form that was used by R. Buckminster Fuller for his domes and in our research, we have called it the Unified Vector Geometry (UVG) 120 Sphere. We consider it the key component in our proposed "new synthesis" of planetary grid research."

Synergetics Color Plate # 30.
Copyright © 1997 Estate of R. Buckminster Fuller

See Synergetics Fig. 987.132E Composite of Primary and Secondary Icosahedron Great Circle Sets and the beautiful color version of this diagram in Color Plate 30. Also, the Becker-Hagens BASIC TRIANGLE Unified Vector Geometry (UVG) is identical to Bucky's Synergetics Fig. 987.132F Net Diagram of Angles and Edges for Basic Disequilibrium 120 LCD Triangle

Also, on this web page is a discussion of the rhombic triacontahedron used as the basis for an "EarthStar" map.

"The geometry of EarthStar is the rhombic triacontahedron projection method developed by R. Buckminster Fuller."

The Vortex Maps website offers the unique triacontahedron "EarthStar" map of the Earth.

The rhombic triacontahedron is exactly the same geometry for which I have created the Triacon visualization application and upon which I use as an aid in creating some of my fused glass art pieces.

30 Transcendent Virtues
Fused glass art by Thomas J. Greebaum
Based on rhombic triacontahedron

At the Crystal Links website there is a drawing of the Earth with a superimposed spherical icosahedron and the multitude of spin lines identical to what Bucky published in Synergetics. The Crystal Worlds website has a very similar image of the Earth Globe with superimposed icosahedron lines.

It is a small world after all, why not cover it in a spherical icosahedron grid?

GRUNCH of Giants

2011-01-11T21:27:00.002-07:00

I wanted to share with you some words from Buckminster Fuller which I feel are extremely pertinent to today's world financial crisis. The words are from the book Grunch of Giants by Buckminster Fuller. The book is a 'sequel' to Bucky's Critical Path. The title of the book includes the word GRUNCH which is Fuller's acronym for:

GRoss Universal Cash Heist

Written in the 1980's in allegorical form, this serious satire about the rise of multi-national corporations, capitalistic selfishness and the technological revolution emphasizes that our present economic system, and the theories on which it is based are no longer useful because of its false assumption of scarcity.

Following is the quote from the book,

Buckminster Fuller on economic turmoil and social revolution

An excerpt from Grunch of Giants by R. Buckminster Fuller:

Greater justice and economic improvement for the many is not always the result of social revolution. The Europeans' guns overwhelming of the American Indian bow-and-arrow weapons was in most ways a retrogressive social revolution implemented by design-science revolution. It is always the design revolution that tips the social scales one way or the other. However, sum totally the combined design and social revolutions ultimately favor the many. Between 1900 and today, 60 percent of humans in the U.S.A. have attained a standard of living far in advance of those of the greatest potentates of 1900 while concurrently doubling the life-span of that fortunate 60 percent.

Never before in all history have the inequities and the momentums of unthinking money-power been more glaringly evident to so vastly large a number of now literate, competent, and constructively thinking all-around-the-world humans. There's a soon-to-occur critical-mass moment when the intuition of the responsibly inspired majority of humanity, in contradistinction to the angered Luddites and avenging Robin Hoods, faced with comprehensive functional discontinuity of nationally contained techno-economic system, will call for and accomplish a world-around reorientation of our planetary affairs. At this critical moment will occur a realization by the responsibly inspired majority that the adequate capacity of the invisible technology to sustainingly support all humanity depends on all the resources, physical and metaphysical, being always and only employed for all of world-around humanity as a completely integrated techno-economic system operating entirely on its daily income principally of Sun-emanating energy.

You can read Grunch of Giants on the www.bfi.org website or purchase it from the Buckminster Fuller Institute online store.

Language of Emptiness

2011-01-10T22:01:00.002-07:00

In my previous post "The Deliberately Non-Straight Path" I mentioned the teaching of Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness because that is the most profound teaching of the Buddhist idea of Emptiness (Shunyata) that I know of. The Teaching utilizes the approach of leading the student through a review of the different schools of Buddhism. It leads us on a journey to go beyond our illusion and false views of reality. We realize that over time, scholars of Buddhist philosophy have progressively evolved and refined their understanding of Emptiness. In this way, the student can themselves evolve their own understanding.

The Teaching is at the same time profound and straightforward. Because the subject is so incredibly difficult to put into words, the method of the teaching utilizes a variety of metaphors comparing our experience of reality to dreams. However, this teaching is not for everyone.

When I received the empowerment from the Venerable Khenpo Tsultrum Gyamtso Rinpoche for the Teaching of Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness it was up in Woodstock at the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Monastery. I remember Rinpoche holding up a flower, declaring to the students sitting on cushions in the main shrine room, "This flower is an illusion, it is empty of self."

A woman student was visibly shaken by this declaration that the flower is an illusion. She objected. She got up and started arguing with Rinpoche. "How can you say it is an illusion?" she said defiantly. "I can see you holding it in your hand. We can all see it in your hand. It is REAL."

Obviously, she was not ready for the teaching. She was confused and upset. She got up and left the shrine room and did not return.

In the Heart Sūtra also referred to as the Prajñāpāramitā, or "Perfection of Wisdom," the Buddha teaches:

All conditioned phenomena

Are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, or shadows;

Like drops of dew, or flashes of lightning;

Thusly should they be contemplated.

The mantra given in the Prajñāpāramitā is:

gate gate pāragate pārasamgate bodhi svāhā

"gone gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond, O what an awakening, all hail!"

What do you think "gone beyond" means? Here are some of my thoughts about going beyond.

I have been a student of the physical sciences my entire life. By the time I graduated High School I had exhausted all of the High School math, science, chemistry and physics courses including the Advanced Placement courses and had moved on to Independent Study courses at a college level. My first two years in college I was a physics major and took some pretty serious math, science and engineering courses. I completed 4 semesters of calculus.

I mention this because this because all of this academic experience has all been Grist for the Mill. I can tell you with utmost confidence in my experience that science has discovered no physical objects.

The little swirling whirlpool on the downstream side of a boulder in a stream appears to be a thing. It seems to have an identity; an existence. We might describe it as a system. It has insideness and outsideness. It has structure. However, it does not exist separately from the stream of water. It is empty of self.

Whirlpool Galaxy (M51), image from Hubble Space Telescope

Science has powerful instruments that extend our senses into realms of the incredibly small and highly energetic. We have poked and prodded matter and energy and have found no particle, no system, no energy, no fabric of time and space that is indivisible, eternal, unchanging, substantive, or objective. All observed scientific phenomena are empty of self.

Science has "gone beyond," way beyond, and can find no objective reality. So-called solid matter has been found to be composed of molecules. Molecules are composed of atoms. Atoms are broken down into sub-atomic particles. Sub-atomic particles decomposed into quarks. Quarks are made of strings .... ad infinitum. There is no theoretical limit to this reductio ad absurdum search for a fundamental "thing" that makes up physical reality.

What the heck is a string? No one really knows. A string is mathematical object, it is not an object that can be directly observed, and yet science says this is the stuff that all of reality is made of. Strings are a set of mathematical theories and constructs understood by a handful of people on the planet and they cannot even agree on the mathematics.

Physical reality is now ruled by mathematicians. Mathematics is imaginary, it exists completely in the realm of abstract mental phenomena. The most fundamental description of physical experience is mathematical, abstract, non-substantive, existing only in the minds of an elite few.

Every time that science has poked and prodded what appears to be a physically solid "thing" it comes apart into ethereal sub-components. As science continues its journey trying to understand and define what matter and energy is, it keeps "going beyond" and discovering that there are no things that independently exist. What appeared to be a thing is an illusion, a temporary holding pattern of yet finer things in orbit about each other, which themselves are holding patterns of even finer things, etc., etc. Science has discovered no-thingness.

Science has sensed and mathematically described trajectories and orbits, spins and vibration. But science has found no things that move, orbit, spin and vibrate. Because every time that science has tried to describe the things that move, orbit, spin and vibrate, it discovers only more movement, orbits, spins and vibration existing on a smaller, micro-cosmic scale of experience.

Experience is based on information gathered via the senses. Patterns arise in from these experiences and form is perceived, along with other concepts such as symmetry, order and beauty. Abstract thought and language together structure experience. This structuring of experience is a mental activity.

Reality is a mental projection, similar to a movie projection. Individual experiences are projected onto a mental image of what appears to be a continuity of experience. This is similar to the rapidly displayed frames of a movie which the visual sense assembles into the illusion of continuous movement. However, continuity of experience is an illusion. The flow of time is an illusion.

All that is known about reality is what is sensed and conceived and felt and remembered at this very moment. Memories presents the illusion of the past, but the past does not exist "beyond" our memory. The past is an illusion.

The future is a mental construct of imagined events and experience based on projected patterns of memories and feelings and thought. The sun is imagined to rise tomorrow. All sorts of events and activities are projected to occur in the future based on memories and thoughts and concepts that occur only in this moment. However, tomorrow never comes. It is always today. It is always this moment. There is nothing "beyond" this moment that is not an illusion; an imaginary mental construct.

Even though I talk of God, I actually do not believe in God as most people do. I do not differentiate between the Mind of God and a Personal Mind.

The idea that all experience is mental phenomena (consciousness-only) is the position of the Yogācāra school of Buddhism. This is talked about extensively in Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness. There is no experience that is not a mental event.

In my view (not necessarily any Buddhist teaching). There is no differentiation between mental realms, other selves, gods, deities, etc. The Mind of God is an illusion; a projection. The minds of deities, gods, and other selves are imaginary as well. All these projections of separately existing minds exist within the discontinuous experience of mind. There is not one mind, there are not many minds, there is only mind.

There is experience. Experience is experience, there is no "going beyond" that. I am that which I am. YHVH. Suchness. Tathagata.

The realization of this simple truth has brought me "beyond" the false belief in imaginary projections. Reality is like a dream that is realized to be a dream only after we wake up. While in the dream, the experience of the dream is very real. However, when we awake from the dream we review the memory of the dream and know it to be an illusion; only existing as a mental phenomena.

Perhaps some day in the future I will awake from this dream. But, there is no future, so I should be awake at this moment.

Beyond, beyond, beyond that beyond, the great beyond, awaken, rejoice!

Spiral Tetrahedron and Tetrahelix

2011-01-08T22:24:00.003-07:00

Bucky wrote extensively on the significance of the tetrahelix. He described how the tetrahedron is the union of a left-handed and right-handed spiral triangle.

Bucky thought that the backbone of DNA is a tetrahelix. I created several images based on the tetrahelix in which I placed human figures.

See Synergetics section 930.00 Tetrahelix. A wonderful photo of a model of the tetrahix from Synergetics illustrates the geometry.

The marvelous web page of R.W. Gray Projects on TETRAHELIX DATA contains beautiful spinning tetrahelix animations and perhaps the best explanation of the properties of the tetrahelix.

Six Short Points on Mahamudra

2011-01-08T05:00:00.002-07:00

Mahamudra is a powerful teaching called the Great Seal. It is instruction on Emptiness.

Tilopa was a great Tibetan Buddhist saint of the Kagyu lineage. He gave six short points of advice to his disciple Naropa (another great Tibetan Buddhist saint) regarding Mahamudra:

Don't recall (Let go of what has passed)
Don't imagine (Let go of what may come)
Don't think (Let go of what is happening now)
Don't examine (Don't try to figure anything out)
Don't control (Don't try to make anything happen)
Rest (Relax, right now, and rest)

Buddha's White Hat (12-27-2010)

The Deliberately Non-Straight Path

2011-01-07T20:43:00.002-07:00

Buddhism consists of a vast number of lineages branching outward like an enormous fractal. It is a dynamic, constantly changing landscape of teachers, students and philosophies that have grown and changed over time. Every new student and teacher adds their experience and understanding to the path. Numerous cultures have contributed to the color and form of the practices. This is the strength and merit of Sangha. This is the evolving nature of Dharma.

Buddhism is not a static dogma written in stone at some ancient point in time by a single teacher and then passed on in memorized, route fashion from teacher to student down the ages. Students are not taught to blindly follow a predetermined map to travel from our land of confusion to the Pure Land. We travel together towards of goal of mutual fulfillment and benefit.

As I stated previously, everyone has their own dream that they must awake from. Our dream is our personal mythology filled with our own metaphors, signs and symbols. We can utilize the metaphors, signs and symbols from other person's mythologies and from shared religious mythologies, but ultimately, we must awaken ourselves. This is the nature of Buddha within.

The very profound point of the teaching Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness as instructed by the Venerable Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche is that the Buddhist understanding of Emptiness has progressed through several stages over time. Buddhist thought regarding Emptiness was not the same at the time of the historic Buddha Shakyamuni as it is today. In addition, today there exist numerous Buddhist schools with differing views all over the world. All these different schools and lineages offer a huge diversity of approaches. None of these schools are static, they are all in a constant state of change. This is the precision of the deliberately non-straight line.

From Synergetics Fig. 522.09

We do not have the option of blindly following predetermined paths mapped by any particular lineage. The idea of an external path is an illusion. Path is only a word, a metaphor, for something that happens inside us. How can there be an external path leading to a Pure Land located in some distant realm, if we accept the statement by the Buddha that samsara and nirvana are one?

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso says about the Fourth Noble Truth, the Truth of the Path:

In this context, 'path' does not mean an external path that leads from one place to another, but an inner path, a spiritual path that leads to the pure happiness of liberation and enlightenment

Can you see the possibility of the Pure Realm existing here, in this very moment?

Mantra for Rebirth in the Pure Land

2011-01-06T21:50:00.003-07:00

In my previous post "How To Reach a Pure Land" I mentioned that I received the empowerment and training for the Tibetan Buddhist Pure Land practices or Phowa. In this post I would like to provide a high-level overview of the practice of reciting mantra in order to attain rebirth in the Pure Land. I strongly encourage anyone seeking to practice the mantra to obtain instruction and direct transmission (empowerment) from a qualified teacher before proceeding.

At the time of my training, I was taught:

Om ami dewa hri

However, I am very fond of the Indic form:

Om amitabha hrih

Amitabha, the Buddha of Immeasurable Light, is the center of a number of mantras in Tibetan Buddhist Vajrayana practices.

The Indic form of the mantra of Amitābha is oṃ amitābha hrīḥ, which is pronounced in its Tibetan version as om ami dewa hri, while the Sanskrit form is oṃ amideva hrīḥ

Buddha Amithaba in Tibetan Buddhism, traditional Thanka painting

Very similar to one that I have hanging in my meditation room

Pasted from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Buddha_Amithaba.jpg

The specific Tibetan Practice that I received the empowerment for is called Phowa

Phowa (also spelled Powa or Poa phonetically) is a Tibetan term for a Buddhist meditation practice that may be translated as the "practice of conscious dying", "transference of consciousness at the time of death" or "mindstream transference".

The method of mind-transference, or "enlightenment without meditation" as it is often called, can be applied at the moment of one's death with the objective of taking birth in the buddha-field of one's choice, i.e., Sukhāvatī, Abhirati, Ghanavyūha, Aṭakāvatī, Mount Potala, the Copper-Colored Mountain, Tuṣita, etc.

I was taught the mantra and visualization for rebirth in the Pure Land of the Buddha Amitabha, called Sukhāvatī.

A wonderful Phowa teaching available on the web is Teachings on Phowa, by H.E. Lingtrul Rinpoche http://www.kathokgonpa.ca/teachings-phowa.php

There is an entire category of Buddhism called Pure Land Buddhism. In Southeast Asia and Japan, recitation of the mantra, also referred to as praises to the Buddha Amitabha, are believed to be all that is necessary to attain the Pure Land after death. These praises are called Nembutsu or Nianfo.

Nianfo (Chinese: nianfo; Japanese: nembutsu; Korean: yeombul; Vietnamese: niệm Phật), literally "mindfulness of the Buddha" is a term commonly seen in the Pure Land school of Mahayāna Buddhism. It refers to praise offered to Amitabha Buddha as a devotional act. The original Sanskrit phrase would have been Namo Amitabhaya Buddhaya, which can mean either "I trust in the Buddha of Immeasurable Light" or simply "Homage to the Buddha of Immeasurable Light".

The reason that we rely on devotion to Amitābha Buddha to obtain rebirth in the Pure Land is mentioned in the Pure Land Buddhism Wikipedia article:

One basic Mahayana Pure Land concept is that Nirvana (liberation, awakening, salvation) has become increasingly difficult to attain, and that only through devotion to Amitābha Buddha and looking towards Amida Buddha for guidance can one be reborn in the Pure Land, a perfect realm in which enlightenment is guaranteed.

How To Reach A Pure Land

2011-01-06T00:04:00.001-07:00

If you have read my previous post "In What I Can Trust" you will appreciate that for me, lineage is important. Also, in previous posts I talk about the importance of "Discontinuity." In this post I talk about the importance of "Continuity."

I entered into the path of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism in the early 1980's when I took as my teacher the great vajrayana master, Khenpo Kharthar Rinpoche, Abbot of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Monastery in Woodstock, New York. In my early years as a student I was very active in the Buddhist community; I co-founded the Karma Thegsum Choling mediation center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Today, I am not active in the community but I still practice meditation and study regularly. Although I have not seen Rinpoche in many years I still consider myself his student.

Lineage is important to me because I find great value in the teacher-student relationship. I have always striven to be a good student, and a good student requires a good teacher. One outcome of this relationship is that the student eventually takes over the position of his/her teacher. This cycle repeats itself and develops into a lineage. A simple concept really.

Of course, there are many different cultures, lineages, teachings and paths. You might ask, "Why dedicate yourself to one?" Or, perhaps you might ask, "What is the ultimate goal of a lineage?" Does following the practices of a lineage lead one to a certain state of attainment?

In Buddhism, the idea of "states of attainment" also touches on the concept of Pure Lands and Pure Realms.

I have taken the empowerment for Phowa and took part in a meditation retreat to gain in-depth instruction and practice in Phowa. The Phowa practice is the transference of one's mindstream to a Pure Land. It is usually performed at the moment of death. It allows one to skip the Bardo realm after death and pass directly into a Pure Land. I was instructed in the particular meditation of transference of mindstream to Buddha Amitabha's Pure Land called Sukhavati. That is why I have a tangkha painting of Buddha Amitabha positioned prominently in front of me when I meditate. Therefore, I definitely have a specific goal of going to Sukhavati at the end of this life. After that, who knows? LOL

The core practice is however, to envision the Pure Realm in every moment and situation. This is the enlightened mind shining through into our everyday existence. The Buddha Shakyamuni said, "Nirvana and samsara are one." Ultimately, there is no difference between pure and impure.

The illusory existence that Buddhism speaks of is the illusion that there is a difference between mundane and supra-mundane, between reality and Pure Realm, between obscuration and enlightenment. If we can break through this illusion we would realize that the Pure Realm is here and now; that there is no reality other than the Pure Realm.

Short of this ultimate awakening of realizing that the Pure Realm is the true reality of here and now, we dream about some day in the future traveling to a destination that is an imagined Pure Realm. We project the possibility of this awakening to another place and time. The paradox is that the enlightened mind realizes that there is no other place and no other time that is more pure than here and now.

Therefore the future attainment of a Pure Realm is an illusion. Breaking through this illusion is one of the challenges to Awakening.

Obviously we have not attained the Pure Realm completely at this moment. We have not dispelled all illusion and we have not attained ultimate awakening and enlightenment. So we might ask, "Then what do we do in the meantime as we work our way toward this ultimate state?" The answer is that we dream.

Joseph Campbell says that our dream is our personal myth. Each of us have developed our own personal myth and together, we have developed shared cultural myths. Significant personages throughout the ages have shared personal myths that were so highly developed and powerful in their metaphors and symbols that they have become world religions. Thus lineages have been formed.

Therefore, we come full circle back to the original discussion about lineages. My understanding is that a lineage is a mythology, a dream of a destination, shared by individuals seeking to awaken from the dream.

Until that moment when we fully awaken, we live in a dream of dreams, dreaming about a time and place when we awaken from our dream.

In What Can I Trust

2011-01-04T15:47:00.001-07:00

I have asked the same question over and over.

This has been my quest

Ever since I can remember,

I have asked, "In what can we trust?"

The Universe has responded with one answer.

Over and over and over again

The answer has always been Emptiness.

Although I did not have a word for it

Until I took Refuge in the Three Jewels

The answer has always been

I can trust the Clear Light of Emptiness and Bliss.

And because it was the Three Jewels

That taught me to see the Clear Light

Directly with my Wisdom Eye and

To achieve on rare occaisions the

Sambhogakāya - Body of Bliss,

I also trust in the Three Jewels.

And because it was my Guru,

The learned Vajra Master, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche,

Abbot of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Monastery,

My great and completely worthy spiritual friend,

That granted me refuge in the Three Jewels,

And bestowed upon me the name

Karma Lodrö Gyaltsen --

Victorious Banner of Intellect,

I also trust in my Guru.

And because it was the Karma Kagyu lineage

Of Tibetan Buddhism,

Which traces its origins to

Shakyamuni Buddha through Marpa the Great Translator,

An unbroken lineage headed by a succession of reincarnations

Of the incomparable Gyalwa Karmapa,

That brought to me the great Kagyu teacher,

My Guru, Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche,

I also trust in the Kagyu lineage.

And because it was Avolokiteshvara,

The Maha Boddhisattva,

Known in Tibet as Chenrezig,

That proclaimed the ultimate Dharma teaching,

The Prajna Paramita Sutra,

Which cleared my mindstream of any doubt

Of the truth of the Natural Great Perfection,

The Naked Awareness of Emptiness,

I also trust in Avolokiteshvara.

And because it was my Mentor,

The learned Vajra Master, Khenpo Tsultrum Gyamtso Rinpoche,

Who empowered me in an unbroken line of transmission,

From the Maha Yogi Padmasambhava,

With the unmatched teaching of

The Progressive Stages of Emptiness,

I also trust in my Mentor.

And because it was Shakyamuni Buddha

That turned the Wheel of Dharma three times,

Establishing the foundation of the path

To enlightenment in the current age,

With ultimate skillful teachings such as

The Four Noble Truths, and

The Eightfold Path,

Without which foundation,

The Clear Light of Emptiness

Would surely burn a hole in my meager consciousness,

I also trust in Shakyamuni Buddha.

And because it was the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali

That has guided me in the ways of meditation,

The Eight-Limb Path,

Culminating in my attainment of Samadhi,

Including concentration on the Kurma Nadi,

Sustaining me in equanimity in the midst

Of this Dark Age of turmoil, and false gurus,

I also trust in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali.

And because it was the Dakini Vajrayogini,

The Highest Yoga Tantra Yidam,

The Dakini who is the Essence of all Buddhas,

That has protected me and

Saved me from death numerous times,

She knocks on doors and walls to guide my actions,

She directs my thoughts to create with sacred geometry,

She carries a curved drigug knife in her right hand

Displaying her power to cut the delusions and

Obstacles of her followers,

She drinks the nectar of blood from a skull cup in her left hand

Symbolizing her experience of the Clear Light of Emptiness and Bliss,

I also trust in the Dakini.

And because it was R. Buckminster Fuller

The Great Architect and Inventor,

Who discovered the coordinate system of Universe and

Shared his deep insight into the generalized principles of

Nature's geometric systems in his book Synergetics, and

Who once heard a voice speak to him from the Void,

"You no longer require temporal attestation for your thoughts,"

I also trust in Bucky.

2 Triad Unities Coincide

2011-01-04T03:36:00.002-07:00

Sunday, 9/19/2010

I wanted to share with you my revelation during Yom Kippur meditation. After a lengthy sitting meditation, in the style of Buddhist vipassana meditation, I got up from my pillow feeling very much at peace and having a great bliss buzz on. I ascended the stairs from my meditation room. On the way up a thought came to me, "The Jewish path is not my thing, I need to stick with Buddhism." At that very moment I tripped a little and caught myself, but also bit my tongue a little. Very prophetic.

So, I immediately repented that thought. I was sent a message to bite my tongue on that thought. I laughed inside; the Jewish path is as much a part of me as the Buddhist path. I am truly a JUBU (Jewish-Buddhist).

The next thing that happened to me is that I had a revelation of how the two paths are joined. The topmost triangle of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah is the triad unity of God-Torah-Israel. The Three Jewels in Buddhism is the triad unity of Buddha-Dharma-Sangha. These two triangles overlap or coincide; they describe a single being. This was a very profound moment for me.

Perhaps it is my fascination with triangles that brought me to this revelation. But I am not the only one who had this revelation of a triad during Yom Kippur meditation. This evening I researched the God-Torah-Israel triad and discovered that the philosopher Franz Rosenzweig first wrote of this unity in a book "The Star of Redemption." The book was inspired by a revelation he had while fighting in the trenches during World War I. He stumbled upon a synagogue in Berlin on Yom Kippur in 1913 and had the revelation of a triangle of unity; that God-Torah-Israel are a single being.

Is it a coincidence that I had the same revelation on Yom Kippur? Is it coincidence that I saw the two triangles of God-Torah-Israel and Buddha-Dharma-Sangha overlapping to form an even greater unity on Yom Kippur? Are the two overlapping triangles the Star of David, or are they the double tetrahedron of the Dakini Vajrayogini?

A JUBU in the Great Mystery

The Worms Go Out

2011-01-02T13:19:00.001-07:00

Bucky teaches that there are two primary directional vectors in Universe: IN and OUT. There is no UP and DOWN.

UP and DOWN are invalid concepts based on ancient beliefs that reality was divided by an infinite horizontal plane. This infinite horizontal plane divided all of reality, thus creating Heaven above and Hell below. Earthly inhabitants lived on the plane; between Heaven and Hell.

We have since discovered that this view of reality is based on an illusion. We actually live on a spherical planet which we call Earth. However, it is important to note that the three Abrahamic religions continue to share a common belief in Heaven and Hell based on this illusory view of reality.

Bucky taught us (see my two previous Blog entries) that there is no static space-time coordinate system and that no-thing can get OUT of Universe. Therefore, IN and OUT are directions only relative to local systems and energy events. IN and OUT do not pertain to Universe.

A pilot directs his airplane IN for a landing to planet Earth. IN is gravitationally attractive and compressive. OUT is radiantly expansive.

After only several weeks the worms in my Worm Factory are looking healthy and hungry. I added more food and a second tray. I am very happy to find that the worms have already started to move OUT from the first tray and IN to the second tray. That is OUT from the Tray 1 local system and gravitationally OUT from planet Earth, and IN to the Tray 2 local system.

Even the worms demonstrate the truth of Systems Theory and Bucky's Synergetics. Now we can only pray that the three Abrahamic religions can update their belief systems to reflect this wisdom.

Bucky's Brain

2011-01-02T10:37:00.003-07:00

Conceptuality: a Synergetics Approach to Discontinuity - Part II

Now that you have TASTED a sip of the Amrita of Bucky's mind in my post "Discontinuity" you have established a new and vital relationship, you have created a connection between your mind and Bucky's mind.

Reading Bucky's writings has stretched your mind. You have been flexible in your perspective in order to try and grok Bucky's mind. I say "mind" instead of "brain" because Bucky would have made this technical distinction. I admit the phrase "Bucky's Brain" has a nice ring to it, but his brain was just a physical organ that is no longer operational, however, his mind is very much active by continuing to create sympathetic resonant waves (or spiraling mental events) in the minds of living humans.

It is fantastic to see the truth of spirals, waves, planes, lines, points and other geometric systems from Bucky's perspective. It is important to realize that these very same words which were taught at an early age represent concepts that are no longer valid. We must redefine these words in order to elevate our awareness of the truth of reality; a significant challenge for us to stretch our own minds.

Bucky presents a new paradigm for Conceptuality. For example, the concept that every event having six vectors is strange when we read it for the first time. Did you have difficulty with this idea?

The concept that every event having six vectors is not fully explained in the sections of Conceptuality that I referred to in my post on Discontinuity, however, if you dug deeper into the chapter on Conceptuality in Synergetics you may have discovered the reason for six vectors. Here is a hint from the reading material:

519.02 ... Any conceptual event in Universe must have insideness and outsideness. This is a fundamentally self organizing principle.

And,

523.03 In a structural system, the number of vertexes is always divisible by four and the number of triangle edges is always divisible by six.

Elsewhere in Synergetics we learn that the minimum system in Universe is the tetrahedron. Perhaps you saw that coming (this is the Karma-tetra blog). A tetrahedron has four vertexes and six triangle edges (vectors).

Now think about this concept of a conceptual event (which is actually a system) having insideness and outsideness. What does this mean? What is the significance of insideness and outsideness?

526.35 Systems divide all of the Universe. Thought divides all of the Universe.

526.18 Insideness is the captured nothingness. Insideness becomes the conceptually embraced, system-defined space. Outsideness is the conceptual system-defined, outwardly uncaptured nothingness. Without systems there can be no space awareness. (Compare Sec.1053.824.) Systems are awareness concepts. Space is nonconceptual awareness.

The division of Universe by a system is manifest as insideness and outsideness. This is the essence of thought.

Bucky further teaches us that insideness is captured nothingness, while outsideness is uncaptured nothingness. This can be simply understood. However, the next teaching is very significant.

Space is nonconceptual awareness.

I believe, the term "Space" in this usage by Bucky, is identical to the Buddhist term "Sunyata" or "Emptiness.".

Wow! This may be the most spiritually significant teaching in all of Synergetics. Gotta love that mind of Bucky.

You may be thinking, "This seems like a foreign language. It is a huge information overload. Renders me emotional: What if I can't do this? I don't have a mathematical mind."

This is not a problem. We must accept that we cannot go everywhere that Bucky could go. It may be that you cannot follow into the depths of Bucky's mind. However, it is important that at least we have tried to stretch our minds in these new directions.

Please do not feel obligated, seduced, or terrified by these concepts from Bucky's mind. You need not surrender your mind for a reorganization or remodeling. Just keep on being you and further your own uniqueness. It is my hope that I have catalyzed a connection between your's and Bucky's mind that will benefit your understanding of the generalized principles of Universe.

2010-10-26T11:45:00.001-06:00

Conceptuality: a Synergetics Approach to Discontinuity - Part I

The following two documents from Chapter 500.00 Conceptuality of Synergetics by R. Buckminster Fuller are suggested reading regarding fractals and the discontinuous nature of reality.

http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/s05/print/p1900.pdf - Conceptuality sections 519.00 Point, 520.00 Wavilinearity: Fixes, 521.00 Vectors: Trajectories, 522.00 Deliberately Nonstraight Line, 523.00 Vertexes: Crossings
http://www.rwgrayprojects.com/synergetics/s05/print/p2400.pdf - Conceptuality sections 524.00 Novent, 525.00 Solids: Matter, 526.00 Space

Also, see my web page http://www.karmatetra.com/ISDE5/Fulldome_Visual_Acuity.htm in which I calculate the Digital Fulldome Limit of Visual Acuity.

This is perhaps your first experience reading Bucky's writings. In addition, Synergetics is a unique written record of the purest expression of Bucky's mind. It is no doubt that you will have some difficulties with the idiosyncratic language and sentence structure. Do not dispair. Simply read through it as if you are reading poetry. Some concepts may seem obvious and straightforward. Other concepts may take several readings before they start to make sense. Hopefully, you will appreciate the door that Bucky has opened for us with his Synergetics.

Following are some highlighted paragraphs from the two documents that I have included here because they are especially relevant to our discussion. Note that all paragraphs are numbered in order to easily identify the heirachy of where the paragraph fits into the indexed Synergetics volume:

519.02 Without insideness, there is no outsideness; and without either insideness or outsideness, there is only a locus fix. Ergo, "points" are inherently nondemonstrable, and the phenomena accommodated by the packaged word point will always prove to be a focal center of differentiating events. A locus fix constitutes conceptual genesis that may be realized in time. Any conceptual event in Universe must have insideness and outsideness. This is a fundamentally selforganizing principle.

520.11 All actions are spiral because they cannot go through themselves and because there is time. The remote aspect of a spiral is a wave because there are no planes.

521.201 Pure mathematics' axiomatic concepts of straight lines are completely invalid. Lines are vector trajectories.

522.01 The so-called pure mathematician's straight line must be the "impossible"; it must be instantly infinite in two infinitely remote opposite directions. All of its parts must be absolutely, uniformly nothing and simultaneously manifest as discretely, and infinitely divisible, increments

See Fig. 522.09 (from the first link) The Deliberately Nonstraight Line - Does this remind you of a fractal?

524.03 All of our experiences are periodically terminated: the termination characterizes both the physical and the metaphysical aspects of our observing faculties and the observed phenomena. There are no experimentally known continuums. Physics has found no "solids."

524.21 It is experimentally demonstrable that an apparent "plane" is a "surface" area of some structural system. There are no experimentally demonstrable continuums. All that has been found is discontinuity, as in star constellations or atomic nuclear arrays. Areas are discontinuous by constructional definition. Areas, as system "faces," are inherently empty of actions or events, and therefore are not "surfaces."

524.31 There are no surfaces. Therefore, there are no areas.

525.01 If subvisibly modulated spiraling wave lines cannot go through the same point at the same time, there can be no continuous, perfectly level planes. Planes are not experimentally demonstrable. Solids are not experimentally demonstrable. Physical experiment has never discovered any phenomena other than discontinuous discrete-energy events, each uniquely identifiable amongst the gamut of frequencies of cyclic discontinuity of all the physical phenomena, as comprehensively and overlappingly arrayed in the vast frequency ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum "reality" has been found experimentally to embrace all known physical phenomena: visible, subvisible, or ultravisible thus far detected as present in Universe. There are no solids. The synergetic behavior of structures satisfactorily explains as discontinuous that which we have in the past superficially misidentified as "solid."

526.01 There is no universal space or static space in Universe. The word space is conceptually meaningless except in reference to intervals between high-frequency events momentarily "constellar" in specific local systems. There is no shape of Universe. There is only omnidirectional, nonconceptual "out" and the specifically directioned, conceptual "in." We have time relationships but not static-space relationships.

526.03 Space is the absence of events, metaphysically. Space is the absence of energy events, physically.

526.04 The atmosphere's molecules over any place on Earth's surface are forever shifting position. The air over the Himalayas is enveloping California a week later. The stars now overhead are underfoot twelve hours later. The stars themselves are swiftly moving in respect to one another. Many of them have not been where you see them for millions of years; many burnt out long ago. The Sun's light takes eight minutes to reach us. We have relationships but not space.

526.05 You cannot get out of Universe. You are always in Universe.

526.12 Space is the inescapable awareness of unaccounted otherness: the otherness is unconsidered but always and only co-occurrent with system considerations.

526.16 "Solids" are the frequencies that are too high for differential tune-inability. Space is the integral of all the frequencies that are too low for tune-inability.

526.25 The phenomenon death is as yet ultratunable system experience. We have no way of knowing whether any single, dual, or triple recurring experience events are to be followed by a fourth, as-yet-unexperienced, similar event which, if and when it occurs, may constitute a system-tuning-in, live realization of the omnioccurring, infratunable, tunable, and ultratunable systems' concentric intervalling. Death is intervalling. Life and death are always and only cooccurrent, life being concentrically successive tuning-ins and death being the as yet nontuned-in.

526.27 Physics finds that Universe has no solid things surrounded by, and interspersed with, space. Life is an inventory of tuning-ins and tuning-outs of experience. Birth is the first tuning in; death may not be the last.

526.35 Systems divide all of Universe. Thought divides all of Universe. Thought is inherently systemic whose inherency always has its oherency of space. Only systems can communicate space. Space is systems-defined-and-deferred awareness of potentially tunable otherness.

2010-02-21T22:58:00.003-07:00

Morphology of a Virus Attack

I have just completed a sculpture in time to submit for the "Call for Work: The Art & Science of Systems Biology" at the Santa Fe Complex. This one was a real challenge. Lots of experimenting with new materials and techniques. I had only 3 weeks from initial concept to the deadline for the exhibition. It was a very ambitious project. At times I didn't think that I would make the deadline. Good news is I learned a lot that I will use in future art pieces.

The subject of the sculpture is a virus attacking a cell. Twenty triangular kiln cast glass panels form the icosahedral structure of the virus protein capsid. The icosahedron’s beautiful symmetry hides the dangerous nature of the viral morphology.

The sculpture captures the moment at which the virus has breached the cell. A portion of the violated cell membrane, portrayed in cast and slumped glass, shows the destructive effects of the viral invasion. Two strands of viral DNA represented by spiraling copper wire enter the cell membrane. The viewer can now visualize how the cell's metabolism will be taken over by the viral genetic material.

The sculpture is made entirely of kiln-cast recycled glass. One of my biggest challenges in creating this art piece was transforming the glass from beer bottles to a form and texture that was representative of the quality that I wanted to achieve. Other materials include copper wire, brass rod, silicone adhesive and wooden base.

2010-02-21T22:45:00.002-07:00

Ayn Rand on Art and Creativity

A tenent that I particularly appreciate in Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism is that the stated role of art in human life is to transform man's widest metaphysical ideas, by selective reproduction of reality, into a physical form—a work of art—that he can comprehend and to which he can respond emotionally.

Ayn Rand said, “A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.”

2009-12-15T16:57:00.006-07:00

Glass Art Meditation

● Happily there are times when creative visualization, followed by creative action, brings forth into physical reality an artifact which exceeds the inspiring concept. I am fortunate to experience this joy in multiple fields of endeavor.

Several of my designs in the fields of architecture, computer science and digital art have risen to this level. However, I anticipate my greatest joy will be in the creation of kiln formed glass objects. I say this because my recent creation, ‘Thirty Transcendent Virtues’ has been most rewarding.

I met the great architect and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller while studying architecture in college. Bucky inspired me to explore spherical geometries.

Creating a single golden rhombus in fused glass is virtuous. But successfully joining thirty glass rhombus in a spherical rhombic triacontahedron is transcendent. The individual glass facets join together with an embedded copper wire network to form a unique glass vessel that encompasses space, color, light, movement, texture, transparency, reflection, and radiance in a whole greater than its parts.

Meditation upon this glass art object enables self to witness symmetry, beauty and truth beyond self. Please visit the Karmatetra myglassart Gallery

2008-10-15T21:52:00.009-06:00

Invitation to an Opening of Tom Greenbaum's Work in Juried Art Show

My work will be shown in a brand new gallery called the Sante Fe Complex in it's first ever juried show. Wish me luck! I am donating all proceeds to a non-profit organization - but, it sure would be fun if I won. The gallery is in the nearly revived railyard area of Sante Fe. See the invitation attached. It would be great if you came to the opening!

OCCAM'S RAZOR

http://www.sfcomplex.org/occam/

A Show of Art and Technology Collaborating in the same space.

Simple, yet no simpler.

Opening

October 18, 2008

4:00-8:00 PM

at the Santa Fe Complex

632 Agua Fria, Santa Fe, NM 87501

During the opening there will be a live performance of the Smokin' Bachi Taiko (http://smokinbachi.com/) drummers premiering new work written just for the show.

All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best, or so said William Oakham back in the 14th century. Somehow, that became Occam's Razor and set the standard for evaluating scientific explanations and theories. Albert Einstein saw the risk of excessive simplicity, though, and countered by saying, "Things should be as simple as possible but not simpler."

What does that have to do with Santa Fe Complex's first juried art show? It's up to the artists, who can explain their ideas here. We'll be happy with a cabinet of curiosities, a science fair, an art exposition, and a three-ring circus of brilliant and fun interpretations of the wisdom of Messrs. Oakham and Einstein.

My entry consists of a series of six (6) un-mounted prints. They are all 15.00" x 17.39" printed with UV-resistant archival inks on very-heavyweight gloss paper, rated at 100+ years of fade resistance.

A detailed description of my design concept at: http://www.karmatetra.com/ISDE5/Buckminster_Fuller_Challenge.htm
A handout describing the project to be distributed at the show: http://www.karmatetra.com/ISDE5/spheriphor_study06.htm#4-Page_Foldout_Presentation
I also created a colorful button featuring my Spheriphor design to be available at the show: http://www.zazzle.com/spheri_spiral_occams_razor_button-145327584582462169

Artist's Statement:

FULLY TRANSPORTABLE DIGITAL DOME WITH OUTSIDE-IN PROJECTION SYSTEM FOR GEOSCOPE MULTI-DIMENSIONAL DATA VISUALIZATION

By Thomas J. Greenbaum

A Buckminster Fuller Challenge 2008 semi-finalist design science solution presented for consideration as an art and technology collaboration for Occam's Razor juried show -- how does this make sense? This is a very complicated title; how does this demonstrate a simple solution? The simple answer is that complexity and simplicity are two sides of the same coin.

My design science solution depicted in six printed images, offers an innovative method for projecting data on a half-sphere (full-dome) Geoscope. My intent is to realize the Geoscope vision of R. Buckminster Fuller as stated in his book Critical Path, "With the Geoscope humanity would be able to recognize formerly invisible patterns and thereby to forecast and plan in vastly greater magnitude than heretofore."

Complexity and simplicity are alternately revealed on a multitude of levels. Macroscopically, planetary issues spanning nations and continents are highly complex. Perhaps Fuller's simple idea of projecting global data on to a large sphere can reveal the solutions. However, now we are faced with the problem of projecting complex multi-dimensional data sets in high-resolution on the convex surface of a large dome. The simple solution is the best one. Geometrically divide and conquer the spherical space. I use geodesic geometry to place off-the-shelf, digital projectors in an omni-symmetrical, outside-in arrangement. Pixels are optimized as well. Swell, but, the problem is not yet solved. How do we transport and set up a multitude of digital projectors precisely arranged about a large dome? Another complex problem which I solve with a simple framework that unfolds using servo motors and a light weight support structure.

Wait. You ask, "Is geospatial data the only thing that can be displayed on this dome?" Glad you asked, because I have some ideas about presenting non-geospatial data on a spherical surface. I call this my Spheriphor, or spherical metaphor. You say, "That is great, but now present all of this in six images." Wow, that is a complex problem. Perhaps, Edward Tufte's concept of "small multiples" can simplify things...

2008-10-11T03:15:00.004-06:00

Some Notable Ayn Rand Quotes

I heard the following quote on a recent episode of Criminal Minds television show. I am a big fan of this TV show and a much bigger fan of Ayn Rand. I read Ayn Rands' The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged in college; both books had a big impact on me. It has been a while since I thought about Ayn Rand and so I felt a compulsion to record this excellent quote.

“Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it. Do not count on them. Leave them alone.”

The last two sentences of the quote were not mentioned in the Criminal Minds episode. Of course, the FBI agents would not have much to do if they followed the last bit of advice.
My challenge is to "leave them alone" as Ayn Rand says. Definitely a tough one for me. I am a student of reason and find it frustrating when I encounter someone who denies reason. It is almost a feeling of religious zealotry that grips me. I feel the need to convert the person to a belief in reason. This is especially difficult for me in dealing with my father who I feel often denies reason for the sole purpose of winnning an argument.

“The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it.”

Then we come to this quote about truth and the persons who seek it. This tempers my need to convert people to the belief in reason because it is also the path of the truth seeker. Who am I to force someone on the path to seek truth? Truth can only be found by following reason. Therefore, someone who denies reason has no interest in the truth. Do you agree?

What about religious truth? Can this be found using reason? The Buddhists believe this. The seeker applies intellect, logic and reason to the path of truth in order to test all assumptions and relative truths. It is only after exhausting these tools that we come to the end of the path and find the absolute truth which is beyond logic and reason.

Teyata Om Gate Gate Para Gate Para Sohm Gate Bodhi Swaha

This is the great mantra from the "Heart Sutra" also known as the Prajnaparamita Sutra. It means Beyond, Beyond, The Great Beyond, Beyond That Beyond, Awaken, Rejoice!

Ayn Rand reminds us that reason is the source of all great creative acts. Can we include the "highest religious abstraction" among the artifacts of our reason as she states? Some may have a problem with this. I believe this is true, because language itself is a product of reason.

“From the smallest necessity to the highest religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and everything we have comes from one attribute of man -- the function of his reasoning mind.”

The Buddha says that words [religious abstraction] are but fingers pointing at the moon. They are not the moon itself. The intent is to look at the moon and not focus on the fingers. In this way, the religious abstraction, an artifact of reason, can point to the absolute truth beyond the reasoning mind.

“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others”

Which brings us to creative compassion, or compassionate creativity. This is the foundation of Ayn Rand's philosophy. The reasoning mind, with its tremendous power to create is motivated by compassion. A wonderful, beautiful and hopeful thought indeed. Something that is needed especially in troubling times when world finance is controlled not by compassionate creative people, but by destructive, anti-creative scammers (anti-truth seekers) motivated by greed.

2008-09-11T22:07:00.007-06:00

The Unexpected Power of Overcoming Weakness

Tonight I had a flash of insight into a power that comes from conquering a weakness. This needs to be written down because it is significant. When we overcome a weakness we certainly become stronger, but we also gain something unexpected. A power is granted to us that allows us to see this same weakness in others.

Because we have conquered this weakness in ourselves we know it intimately. We can see the same behavior in others with great clarity. Previously, we might have easily recognized this character flaw or negative trait in others, however, at that time we could not face it without a little shame, or some fear, or embarrassment. So we used to turn away from this reflection, ignore it, tolerate it, or perhaps encourage it. Now that we have fully vanquished this foe in ourselves, when we see others wrestling with their own challenge, we have a completely different view.

It is a compassionate point of view. It is a view that allows us to look at the patten of behavior with full awareness of all the consequences. We see the traps, the pitfalls, the lure of the bait, and we know without a doubt what happens when a human being falls into the trap and takes the bait.

We know that this happens countless times over and over. We know the tremendous difficulty in resisting the trap. The suffering is great, but the lies that we tell ourselves serve to camouflage the suffering. In this way we hide the traps as soon as we discover them. In this way we encounter the same traps and the same suffering over and over again.

However, now we are masters of that trail. Our eyes can see all the signs of danger; we can avoid the traps and snares without effort. We no longer deceive our self in regards to the suffering. The truth of the suffering is the First Noble Truth. The nature of the deception is the origin of the suffering. This is the Second Noble Truth.

We also know that this gifted sight that we have gained does not come cheaply. It is not obtained easily and without effort. Therefore, this compassionate view understands that overcoming weakness and suffering cannot be granted by an external force. Although we now have the compassionate view we cannot verbally convince others to abandon their negative behavior. We cannot draw a diagram that spontaneously allows them to know all of the self-deceptions and gain the vision of freedom. Every one must fight the good fight for themselves.

Intellectually knowing that weakness can be overcome and that there is an end to suffering is a wonderful gift. The paradox is that we really don't truly believe this until we realize it for ourselves. Hope and faith increase steadily when realization arises from conquering one small weakness and then another. This is the power of prayer and meditation and spiritual practice.

After some long and persistent effort, when we reach the summit as conqueror of a major weakness we gain the vision which is the unexpected power of overcoming weakness. We obtain the realization of the cessation of suffering and we become awake to the Third Noble Truth.

Now we truly know that our journey had merit. There is no nobler path. The compassionate view is the ultimate strength and power. The ability to look at weakness and its consequence without fear is our greatest strength. There is no pity and no judgement, because we know the path from weakness and suffering to conqueror and freedom is a journey that we all must take on our own, and in our own way. This is the Fourth Noble Truth.

Om Mani Padme Hum
Karma Lodro Gyaltsen

2008-01-16T22:36:00.000-07:00

Do You Believe In Ghosts?

I believe in spirits and other paranormal stuff. I have had several very real encounters with spirits. Here is one story of an encounter that I had.

When I was married to my first wife I became very active with Tibetan Buddhism. I co-founded a Buddhist center in Albuquerque back in 1984 which still exists today. I donated some money with several friends and we bought a small house in the North Valley of Albuquerque. On this property was a detached garage. The garage had an extension that was a shop built by the original owner. We worked hard and converted the garage/shop into a Buddhist temple.

The house in the front of the property was rented by a member of the group. The tenant worked for an insurance company. She also was a Buddhist and a spiritualist. She claimed to have psychic abilities and she was very talented in reading Tarot.

We had many high lamas visit and give teachings and empowerments. We transformed that property into a thriving Buddhist center. It was an exciting time.

After I divorced I decided to concentrate on my meditation practice and move into the garage/temple. I was sort of like the temple caretaker who lived on the grounds doing chores and helping with events.

I didn't have much back then, so the sparse accommodations were no problem for me. I led a very simple life for about a year in that converted garage. I ate a strict macrobiotic diet, but that is getting off the story. The real story is about the ghost who visited me.

I had this recurring experience that I would be awakened by knocking on the door to the temple. I would get up and open the door only to find that no one was there. At first I thought that I was dreaming the knocking. You know that state of mind when you are about to wake up in the morning and you are half asleep and very susceptible to noises. Sometimes a noise is transformed into an element of a dream.

However, this happened over and over again, so it could not be a random dream. It got down right spooky.

Then, one evening after a group meditation session, everyone had left except for a friend. We were engaged in a casual discussion in the small entry to the temple. We were talking for a some time and the night was quiet. Suddenly, we were scared to the core by the horrendously loud sound of a door slamming shut.

I have never heard such a sound in my life. Imagine a very strong person slamming a large wooden door right next to you. The sound was that immediate and personal. It did not come from some distance away. We could almost feel the breeze from the movement of the phantom door.

Both of us just stared wide-eyed at each other for what seemed like several minutes. We were visibly shaking as if we just survived a crash. We were frozen with fear. Slowly we recovered from the shock of hearing this frightful sound. Eventually we turned away from our stare and surveyed the room.

There was nothing that could have made that sound. There were only two doors in that small room. Both doors were within a radius of 6 feet from where we stood. The one to the bathroom was wide open and still. The entry door was closed before the sound had occurred and it had not moved.

The sound was clearly a door slamming shut in our immediate vicinity. There was no other door within 75 feet of us. It was an impossible perception, yet one that my friend and I shared. When we both had gathered our wits, we walked together to the house in the front of the property. We still had not uttered a word between us.

As I mentioned before, a women from our group was renting the front house. She claimed to be psychic and was quite good at Tarot. We knocked on her door and started to explain what we just experienced. However, a full explanation was not necessary. She knew better than we did what had happened. She told us that a spirit had moved through the property.

She said that she clearly saw a dark figure come through her living room from the back to the front several minutes before we knocked on her door. She said this plainly and with no drama. She said the spirit was an occasional visitor that seemed attached to the property, but meant us no harm. Oh, that was all?

Knock, knock, knock, who is knocking at my door?

2008-01-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

On Being A Seeker

When I say that I am a "seeker" it is not the way people mostly think about the term. I am not a seeker in the sense of the troubled youth seeking to be rescued by religion or a magical tradition. I am not seeking to believe in something greater than my self in order to find refuge or protection. I am not seeking an omnipotent being to answer my prayers. I am not even seeking a spiritual identity or acceptance by a group. I am comfortable in saying that I am passed that.

What I am seeking is evidence of other humans who have broken through the illusion of culture, language, science, logic and myth and have seen truth with their hearts.

Sometimes I follow a promising trail only to find that it leads to a dead end. I have come across many cold, worthless pieces of propaganda masquerading as spiritual evidence. Other times I find a glowing gem of great beauty.

Sometimes I learn about an ancient manuscript that hopefully will reveal an important teaching, but it takes reading a half dozen translations in order to find the one translation that does not corrupt the original. For example, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by B K S Iyengar is such a jewel. The Sutras of Patanjali are the oldest known writings about Yoga. This one work has been translated by many "spiritualists" in order to validate their own dogma. However, in my opinion Iyengar's translation is evidence of a human heart touching truth. It takes a great yogi to know a great yogi.

2007-12-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

Spirals: Geometry Of Awareness

If you have visited my website http://www.karmatetra.com/ you may have noticed that I am fond of spirals. What is it about spirals that evokes the imagination? The Golden Spiral has inspired philosophers, poets, architects, physicists, astronomers and biologists. We see spirals in nature; from the recorded trails of exotic subatomic particles, to flowers and galaxies. Spirals are everywhere.

Recently, I have been exploring spirals on the surface of spheres. I have published a study on generating these spirals on my website. See Spheriphor Study 03 for details and images. As far as I know this is the only spiral of its kind. There must be other people who have created a geometric design where spirals symmetrically cover the surface of a sphere - so if the reader knows of any, please comment here and let me know where they can be found.

I do a lot of my work in POV-Ray. I have provided sample code on my website for generating some of the images. I even provide information on how to run the code. If the reader is willing to follow a few step-by-step instructions, then it should be fairly simple to reproduce the images.

The image shown in the beginning of this post is titled Golden Spiral Sunset Sailing. It is a 3D rendering of a series of rectangles arranged whimsically in the space above a tranquil body of water. A spiral reminiscent of the Golden Spiral flows through the rectangular structure like the sails of a fanciful sailboat. More spiral digital art to come in future posts ...

2007-12-16T21:37:00.000-07:00

Serious Games At Sauce Nightclub

The IGDA (International Game Developers Association) meeting Thursday night (12-13-2007) at the SauceRaw nightclub in downtown Albuquerque was fun! It was a great turn out and there were some great Pecha Kucha presentations.

Thanks go out to everyone who made this a successful event. Special thanks to Eric Renz-Whitmore (UNM ARTS Lab) and Mike Wallace (Global Haptics).

I found the Pecha Kucha speed presentation style to be a challenge to present, but it is exciting, informational and entertaining; especially with the occaisional flubs that occur when the presenter tries to keep up with the fast-moving Powerpoint slides.

It was good to see a lot of young entrepeneurs with fresh ideas. The future of America is in the hands of young people like those in attendance. Taking informed risks and passionately pursuing innovative ideas with new technologies is what the IGDA is all about.

Several presentations had the theme of Serious Games. My feeling is that this is a very good thing. I believe that the world is just beginning to see the benefit of the positive application of game technology.

My own presentation "Serious Games With Google Earth" is published in my previous blog posting. It was well received and I had a lot of good discussion later as we enjoyed wine, food and music in the "Raw" side of the nightclub.

Coincidentally, Frank Miller is making a film in downtown Albuquerque called "Game." Imagine that! So while we were discussing game technology, the film crew of Frank Miller's "Game" walks in. I struck up a conversation with a key grip on the film who just finished filming a live 3D film with the latest Red Cameras. We also shared an intense interest in the works of Buckminster Fuller.

2007-12-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Serious Games With Google Earth

Serious Game - Definition

The current Wikipedia definition (as Wikipedia content is constantly in flux): "A serious game is a software application developed with game technology and game design principles for a primary purpose other than pure entertainment." This is fairly non-specific. For example, "game technology" can be practically any technology that humans interact with. In this competition we make use of Google Earth technology as a "game engine" platform on which we develop a multi-player, serious game environment.

Goal

The goal of the Serious Games Competition utilizing Google Earth technology is to create a competitive situation where several development teams apply their skills and creativity to ultra-rapidly develop innovative and novel applications that will immerse the end-user in educational and problem-solving gaming situations.

Benefits

For The Duke City Shootout

Note: I presented this at the 2007 Duke City Shootout http://dukecityshootout.org/ which was running a "Gamelan" serious games competition at their "Insomnia Lounge."

Demonstrate that the Duke City Shootout is an extensible, revolutionary forum that supports and encourages innovative and breakthrough approaches to ultra-rapid development of new media applications and content.

For The Teams

Achieve ultra-rapid development of a Serious Game using Google Earth technology while realizing the rewards, recognition, learning and fun that comes from a competitive, highly-spirited team-based forum.

For The Public

Enable end-users to immerse and involve themselves in totally novel Serious Game environments that educate, inform and possibly solve community to global scale problems, while simultaneously, on the meta-level learn about the opportunity for themselves to contribute a Serious Game of their own design using Google Earth.

Overview

This competition makes use of Google Earth (GE) as a Serious Game engine. GE is obviously highly graphic and interactive. The ability to rapidly add rich 3D objects, ground overlays, layers, multi-media content and click-able icons (placemarks) enable foundational game elements. GE technology also enables sophisticated capabilities such as simulations, immersive environments, fly-through navigation, data filters and decision branching that Serious Games depend upon. Through the use of programmatical XML code generation, advanced features such as multi-player interaction and animation can be achieved. For example, GE Chess http://www.gechess.org/

Out-of-the-box (and a free one at that), GE contains an enormous amount of "real-life" and virtual Earth data. An already extensive database of 3D objects are available for download from the Google Earth 3D Warehouse (http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse). The 3D Warehouse includes a large variety of vehicles, furniture, building products, architectural elements and characters.

Google "Geo-Stories"

Many organizations and individuals around the globe are taking advantage of GE to tell their "Geo-Story." By publishing the Geo-Story as a Google Earth layer anyone can become a hero by bringing important issues into the light. Some notable examples:

http://www.ushmm.org/googleearth/ Crisis in Darfur "The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has joined with Google in an unprecedented online mapping initiative. Crisis in Darfur enables more than 200 million Google Earth users worldwide to visualize and better understand the genocide currently unfolding in Darfur, Sudan."
http://www.ilovemountains.org/memorial_tutorial End Mountain Top Removal "You can view the National Memorial for the Mountains featured in the “Layers” menu of Google Earth."
http://www.yritwc.org/ Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council "The tribal leaders who run the YRITWC are celebrating their 10^th year of the 50 year mission to drink from the Yukon River. Using Google Earth and GIS a council of many tribes map river contaminants. They bring together existing data, collect new data, and promote collaboration between native tribes and agencies for building these databases which are available for the protection and sustainability of the Yukon River ecosystem.
http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/qthinice.asp The Natural Resources Defense Council "Zoom in: The Effects of Global Warming on Alaska" Click the link on the NRDC website and the "big blue marble" spins around in Google Earth and zoom in to a position above Alaska. Here you see a number of click-able icons representing major environmental impacts such as the rapidly melting McCall Glacier. Click the icon to view a striking photo of the glacier with a highly informative description that tells a compelling story.

Using Google Earth As A Game Engine

The previous examples are very serious uses of Google Earth. However, in this novel application of using GE as a game engine, the places and times can be imaginary; in the past or in the future. The real Earth is only a bare stage on which to place 3D objects and custom designed environments. The ability to add a custom ground overlay remakes any location on Earth to suite a story or game scenario.

Developers can create 3D objects that come close to game engines of the recent past. One may create materials and texture maps to cover the surface of these objects. Existing Earth terrain may be used or custom terrain may be created. Place objects on the ground or miles above the ground. Objects can be scaled realistically using precise dimensions in feet and inches, or create objects as big as mountains.

XML-Based Files

The GE technology utilizes open source files which are end-user editable. The files can be stored on Google's servers, practically any location on the Internet or even on a private server. These files are used to depict 3D objects, graphical features and click-able placemarks. Essentially there are two file formats; KML (Keyhole Markup Language) and DAE (Collada 3D description) files. Both KML and DAE files are based on XML schemas that are standardized and documented by published specifications.

http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/kml_tags_21.html KML Specification
http://www.khronos.org/collada/ COLLADA - 3D Asset Exchange Schema. COLLADA™ defines an XML-based schema to make it easy to transport 3D assets between applications - enabling diverse DCC and 3D processing tools be combined into a production pipeline. The interchange format provides comprehensive encoding of visual scenes Including shaders and physics,

SketchUp - 3D Object Creation

The novice can avoid coding tasks entirely by using the Google SketchUp application (free download). Rich 3D environments and a degree interactivity can be obtained using just the Google Earth and Google SketchUp applications alone.

Multiplayer Interaction and 3D Animation

With a little bit of programming full-featured, interactive games can be created. For example, GE Chess is an interactive chess game played on a chess board that hovers over New York Harbour. Online players compete by moving chess pieces the size of skyscrapers. The 3D animation is accomplished in Google Earth with minimum amount of PHP code. See http://www.gechess.org/

There are very good tutorials for using Google Earth and Google SketchUp. A beginner can download both applications and have their first 3D model created within an hour.

http://earth.google.com/ Google Earth Home Page, Product Downloads, General Information
http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/ Google Earth KML Documentation
http://sketchup.google.com/products.html Google Earth SketchUp Download, Tutorials, FAQ
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse Google Earth SketchUP 3D Warehouse
http://earth.google.com/intl/en/userguide/v4/ Google Earth User Guide

Live and Interactive Displays

An extensive amount of clever programming has already been done for weather displays in GE. For example, the guiWeather website has a large number of KML files that can be opened in GE that provide real-time weather displays such as lightning strikes, hurricanes and severe weather. The KML files demonstrate animated graphics and interactive, live data capabilities that can form the basis of a Serious Games interface and take advantage of the GE Network Link feature.

http://www.guiweather.com/ guiWeather tools for Google Earth
http://earth.google.com/gallery/kml_entry.html#tPhylogeny%20of%20Avian%20Influenza Phylogeny of Avian Influenza
http://earth.google.com/gallery/kml_entry.html#tWorld%20Population%20Animation World Population Animation

Utilities and Supporting Freeware

http://freegeographytools.com/ Free Geography Tools
http://freegeographytools.com/2007/importing-spreadsheet-data-into-google-earth Importing Spreadsheet Data Into Google Earth
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php/Cat/0 Google Earth Community
http://freegeographytools.com/2007/creating-a-network-kml-link-to-a-google-spreadsheet Creating A Network KML Link To A Google Spreadsheet

Scenario: Duke City Shootout Film Game

Each game team shadows a film crew and draws inspiration for their game from the film crew's experience. Using GE the gamers create an interactive, immersive environment that reflects the creative journey of the film crew. The goal is to develop the most compelling look into the life of a film crew during the Shootout. Examples of some games that might be developed:

The Making Of... - similar to the special features of a DVD, but with added interactivity. Tour the set, follow the crew in the field, build 3D sets in GE, add links to photos and video clips of the film crew in action, capture on-the-set drama and struggles. Explore the challenges of ultra-rapid film development using the latest in digital film technology and how the team overcomes these challenges.
Creative Inspirations... - get inside the head of the production team, examine their inspirations, use GE to fly to real and make-believe places to explore what influenced the creation and feeling of the film.
Director's Cut... - examine the dynamic aspect of Shootout film-making, view choices that changed the course of the film, use click-able placemarks to allow the end-user to predict directorial decisions or examine "what-if" scenarios, what would the end-user have done in the Director's chair? In particular, how does the film original direction change during the week and how does the ultra-rapid film creation competitive situation impact the ability to make changes.

Scenario: Disaster Response Game

Teams simulate natural or man-made disasters, then provide mechanisms for developing responses. Teams can explore what-if scenarios such as:

Terrorists Attack... - develop Red Team attack strategies against Homeland Security targets. Use GE to explore the success or failure of different strategies by emergency responders, police, rescue and military forces respond.
Avian Flu... - the experts have their predictive models on how fast Avian Flu will spread and where, but how will each part of the world respond? Pick an urban environment and use GE to simulate the spread of the disease, then explore strategies that best contain the disease and minimize impact.
Global Warming... - several predictions on the negative effects of Global Warming exist, but no one has looked in detail at impact on the local level. Pick a city close to the ocean and use GE to show the detailed impact. Choose a worst-case scenario and show the new coastline after oceans rise from polar ice cap melting. How is population displaced? Which industries, businesses, schools, hospitals, etc. will be under water? Explore strategies to determine the best location for people to move to. Where will the new ports and urban centers be? Which agricultural areas and fresh-water supplies will be intruded upon by salt water? What goods and services will be in biggest demand? Explore the possibility that Global Warming is an opportunity to master plan for future.
To Bee Or Not To Bee... - an alarming number of bees have died over the last year. Some apiaries report 85%-95% of their hives have died with the bees completely missing. This is known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Although there are several theories, no one knows the cause. CCD threatens the fruit and vegetable growers of the US and possibly the world. What if all the bees in the US die? What and where is the impact? What can be done about it?
Global Conflict... - where are the hot spots where Global Conflict is occurring right now? Examine the current war zones, people, politics and resources. Are there predictable trends over history? Create a conflict simulator. Take one of the conflict zones and explore strategies for resolving the conflict in the shortest period of time, with the least cost of human suffering.

2007-12-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

Lost Blog Found!

Wow, it has been a really long time since I last blogged. It has been five years since I last posted. This is funny, since I totally forgot that I even had a blog.

Tonight I decided to start blogging for the "first" time. I discovered that this is very easy from my Google account. In the process of creating a blogger account from Google I attempted to use the obvious name Karmatetra and was told much too my surprise that the account already existed!

Yikes, how could there be another person on the planet using the name Karmatetra? I opened http://karmatetra.blogspot.com/ - - it was like staring in a mirror and seeing myself for the first time.

My last posting of December 3, 2002 is very eery. It is almost exactly 5 years since that post. The amazing thing is that it still exists. It is like bumping into an old friend that you haven't seen in a long time. All this time I have been resisting the temptation to start a blog when in fact I already had one. Very strange...

2002-12-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

Marpa's Dream of Saraha

Marpa was a renowned yogi from southern Tibet (1012-1097), also called the Translator. By making three journeys to India, he brought back to Tibet the teachings of mahamudra. Marpa was a principal figure in the lineage of transmission of the Kagyupa school which is the lineage of my teacher. Marpa is seen as the ideal of the married householder who devotes himself to spirituality without neglecting his worldly obligations.

Here is an excerpt from a poem called, Marpa's Dream of Saraha.

In the cool shade of a grove of plaksa trees, On a tira corpse seat Sat Lord Saraha, the Great Brahman. Then, the pure speech of great bliss arose From the vase of his precious throat. With sign speech in the melody of Brahma, He sang this vajra song which points out things as they are, The meaning of an empty sky free from clouds. Thus, I heard this unborn self-utterance:

"NAMO Compassion and emptiness are inseparable.
This uninterrupted flowing innate mind
Is suchness, primordially pure.

Space is seen in intercourse with space.
Because the root resides at home,
Mind consciousness is imprisoned.

When I meditate on this, subsequent thoughts
Are not patched together in the mind.

Knowing the phenomenal world is the nature of mind,
Meditation requires no further antidote.

The nature of mind cannot be thought.
Rest in this natural state.
When you see this truth, you will be liberated.
Just as a child would, watch the behavior of barbarians.
Be carefree; eat flesh; be a madman.

"Just like a fearless lion,
Let your elephant mind wander free.
See the bees hovering among the flowers.
Not viewing samsara as wrong,
There is no such thing as attaining nirvana.
This is the way of ordinary mind.
Rest in natural freshness.
Do not think of activities.
Do not cling to one side or one direction.
Look into the midst of the space of simplicity."

The exhaustion of all dharmas is the essential truth,
The summit views, mahamudra.
The sign meaning, which captures the essence of mind,
I heard from the mouth of the Great Brahman.

At that instant, I awoke.
I was caught by the iron hook of this unforgettable memory.
Within the dungeon of ignorant sleep,
The vision of insight-wisdom opened up
And the sun dawned in a cloudless sky,

Clearing the dark forest of confusion.
I thought, "Even if I met the buddhas of the three times,
From now on, I would have nothing to ask them."

Some useful definitions:

Vajra: "Diamond" or "adamantine", it stands for true reality, emptiness, the being or essence of everything existing. This emptiness is indestructable like a diamond, that is, imperishable and unborn or uncreated. The spotless purity and translucency of the diamond symbolizes the perfect spotlessness of emptiness, untainted by all the appearances that arise out of it. It is that aspect of reality referred to in Zen in the saying regarding the countless phenomena, "There's not a thing there." This emptiness, however, is not different from things, from all phenomena. It is one and identical with them. This cannot be conceptually "understood" but can be experienced in enlightenment.
Mahamudra: "Great seal," one of the highest teachings of the Vajrayana, which in Tibet is transmitted especially in the Kagyupa school. Mahamudra is described as the realization of emptiness, freedom from samsara, and the inseparability of the two. The "ordinary" practice of mahamudra begins with "dwelling in peace" (shamatha) and leads to transformation of every experience by the qualities of emptiness and luminosity (or clarity). It has sometimes been called "Tibetan Zen."
Samsara: "Cycle of existences," a succession of rebirths that a being goes through within the various modes of existence until it has attained liberation and entered nirvana. Imprisonment in samsara is conditioned by three "unwholesome roots": hatred, desire or craving, and delusion. The essential unity of samsara and nirvana is based on the view that everything is a mental representation, and thus samsara and nirvana are nothing other than labels without real substance, that is, they are empty (shunyata).
Tathata or Suchness: Referring to the absolute, the true nature of all things. Tathata is generally explained as being immutable, immovable, and beyond all concepts and distinctions. "Suchness" is the opposite of "that which is apparent" --phenomena. It is formless, unmade, and devoid of self-nature. Tathata as the thus-being of things and their nonduality is perceived through the realization of the identity of subject and object in the awakening (Bodhi) of supreme enlightenment. Similar in meaning to buddha-nature.

2002-12-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

A Song By Gampopa

I offer you the following song by the Tibetan Buddhist saint Gampopa. Gampopa lived in Tibet from 1079-1153. Gampopa founded the monastic tradition of the Kagyupa, which is the lineage of my teacher. My teacher, the venerable Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche, has written a book on the teachings of Gampopa called Instructions of Gampopa. He is the abbot of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Buddhist monastery in Woodstock, NY.

Gampopa sang:

I sing a song from the dharmadhatu of great bliss.
I speak these words in the state of wisdom,
Thus resolving the truth of nonduality.

This compassion that is free from attachment and that benefits others --
Seize firmly as supreme upaya.

This coemergent consciousness --
Seize firmly as wisdom.
When uncertainty arises, that is it.

These discursive thoughts of fixation --
Seize firmly as dharmakaya.
When one experiences this, the essence is seen.

Sights and sounds, the habitual patterns of labeling --
Seize firmly as ultimate truth.
When uncertainty arises, that is it.

These discursive thoughts are the birth of fixation.
When one has mastered this, the truth is seen.

If one desires to realize the truth of this,
Practice continuously, like a river.
Rest loosely, without further fabrications.
Rest naturally without seeking further.
Rest easily without thinking.

Experience and realization are one.
When realization is uninterrupted, that is it.
When it is as limitless as space, that is it.
When one sees one's mind as Buddha, that is it.

Now, I may have realized the true dharmata.
Fixation may have been self-liberated.
Without thinking, I may have spontaneously achieved realization.

This is not ordinary, and is not for the ordinary.
This cannot be understood by great learning.
This cannot be known by great knowledge.
This is not for the labeling of discursive thought.

I remain on the path of blessings.
I attend to the words of the guru.
It is the faithful who achieve realization.
Is your realization like this, all you great meditators?
This should not be told to everyone.

You might find the following definitions helpful when reading the poem:

Dharmadhatu - "realm of dharma", the true nature that permeates and encompasses phenomena. As a space or realm, then, the realm of dharmas is the uncaused and immutable totality in which all phenomena arise, dwell, and pass away.
Dharmakaya = "body of the great order", the true nature of the Buddha, which is identical with transcendental reality, the essence of the universe. The dharmakaya is the unity of the Buddha with everything existing.
Dharmata = "nature of the dharmas", the essence that is the basis of everything. Synonymous with Buddha-nature. Dharma = the cosmic law, the great "norm," underlying our world; above all, the law of karmically determined birth.
Upaya = "skillful means or methods", upaya is the activity of the absolute in the phenomenal world, which manifests as compassion. From the standpoint of enlightened understanding, individual beings are not perceived as suffering, since nothing exists other than the dharmakaya, the absolute. However, when regarding the universe from the point of view of compassion, enlightened beings recognize suffering, which arises from attachment to forms, everywhere. In order to liberate beings from their suffering-ridden state, enlightened beings (boddhisattvas) devise all possible means (upaya) helpful toward the attainment of nirvana. These are supported by the limitless compassion of the dharmakaya.

2002-12-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

A Poem By James Greenbaum

A wonderful poem from my younger brother that was inspired by watching the movie, 2001: A Space Odyseey.

From: James Greenbaum
Sent: Thursday, November 28, 2002 7:03 PM
Subject: HAL 9000

Unlimited light beam energy accelerating at beyond infinity with the weight of the universe the mass of our ability times the height of our standing combined with gravity and the architecture of our reality breathes life into substance suspending in a circular journey where ends meet beginnings.

IBM Think Pads on the desks of our times strange weird fixtures fly through our minds beautiful motions commotions and chimes ringing an old man dies a sperm cell divides fabulous colors filter emotions the form falls on an iris with all of its movement compared to a nebula growing in space with the whale of a tail that swims in the black depths of our brains refusal to see graphic two stage images of canyons skin on the surface of planets or persons.

"If I knew the way, I would take you there ... it's a hand me down come through oooh the mu-zic...."

Gravey pours from a bird dressed for the killing feasting our hearts to content with the seasons reasons alone not enough for sustation holding on to dreams of youth conversations.

Irony flies from a twisting steel blades magnetically turning our lectrical days lecturns chads lentil soup prescriptions presidential pardons political plays.

In the heat of the fire a masquerade burns face lighting icons crystal tube displays symbols God left us whenever we cry cymbals crashing brightly in the forever night sky.

2002-11-21T18:20:00.000-07:00

First Karmatetra Blog

Don't you think that Karmatera has a nice rhythm to it? The Karmatetra blog is my place on the web, in which I can expouse my unrestrained, pseudo-scientific, philosophical babble.

Karmatetra is my invention; a joining of Karma from Sanskrit meaning "deed" and tetra from Latin meaning "four". I thought it would be interesting to create a name from both eastern and western roots. This reflects my own desire to form a synthesis, within myself, of the best of both eastern and western traditions.

So, Karmatetra means "four deeds". I try to remember to do these four things every day:

• Be Generous
• Be Compassionate
• Be Patient
• Be Intelligent

Tetra also represents the tetrahedron. I would like to reference R. Buckminster Fuller's "Synergetics" Figure 542.02 - Tetrahedral Analysis of Plato's Triad. Bucky added SELF to Plato's triad of TRUTH, BEAUTY and SYMMETRY. The triad is flat, planar and therefore, non-existent in the 3-dimensional universe. Adding SELF creates a tetrahedron which is in Bucky's words the, "unique symmetrical set of minimum interrelationships". It is the the primary system of intellect; SELF witnessing the universe of TRUTH, BEAUTY and SYMMETRY. It is the observer-plus-the-observed.

Credits:
I owe a lot of my inspiration to R. Buckminster Fuller and his many incredible writings. To really understand the universe, you should read Synergetics, Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking and Synergetics 2 now fully integrated into one volume online by Robert W. Gray.

If you get a chance please visit the full, unabashed Karmatetra website.